Unlike Pokemon Yellow, which was merely a re-hash of the Red and Blue games, Pokemon Gold and Silver feature an entirely new quest through the land of Johto. There are new people to meet, new items to find, and most importantly, a hundred new Pokemon to catch and train! All on your way to earning the eight Johto League Badges and becoming the Johto Champion. and more! The quest is fairly linear, but it's important to revisit areas you have already explored later on to find new items or open up new pathways.

New Bark Town
This is where the game starts. Before you start playing, you will be asked to set the time of day, pressing up and down will change the hour. When you have decided, press A, and it will ask you if that's OK. The top-most selection will be "Yes." The box will be the minutes. Why bother with all of this? Well, some of the game's Pokemon can be caught only in the morning (4am-9:59am), others during the day (10am-5:59pm), others at night (6pm-3:59am). The internal clock will keep track of time automatically, so when you play the game at night before you go to bed, the time of day in the game will also be night. Then after a little speech from Professor Oak about all the Pokemon secrets yet to be revealed, you will choose a name for your character (or make one up yourself), The choices are: Your Own Name, Gold or Silver in the version your playing, Kamon, Oscar, or Max. Downstairs from your room, your mom has you set the day of the week and whether it's Daylight Savings Time or not. She also gives you your Pokegear, which includes a built-in phone and clock. Throughout the game you will meet people that give you their phone numbers. You don't have to memorize them, they are stored in the Pokegear. You can then call them, or they may be trainers calling you to challenge you to another fight. Only problem with this is, every time you open your menu, you might get another call. This gets annoying. If you want to stop the annoying calls, go into your Pokegear Menu, and select the Cell Phone. Then hit your button to select a name you want to delete. It will actually be asking you if you want to CALL that person. When you select to CALL the person, a sub-menu appears with the option to DELETE! Select to Delete, and your woes are OVER!
Now, go to the house all the way up and to the left. This is Professor Elm's lab. He will give you a choice of starting Pokemon: Chikorita, Cyndaquil or Totodile.
Chikorita: A good grass pokemon who needs a little more time to train than the other 2 but learns an element type attack at an earlier stage than the other starter pokemon.
Totodile: The water type is quite useful in the first part of the journey and has a powerful rage attack that he learns at level 8.
Cyndaquil: This fire type is quite useful for the first few gym leaders and areas. And also upgrades quite at an early stage.
On your way out, the professor's assistant will give you a potion. There isn't much to do around New Bark Town, so head west for your first destination:

Cherrygrove City.
Later: Come back to your house and talk to your Mom to adjust the clock when the time changes for Daylight Savings Time.

This is the way to get from New Bark Town to Cherrygrove City. Don't bother going north onto Route 46, just head west. Although you don't have any Poke Balls yet, take the time here to battle the plentiful Pidgeys and Sentrets to give your starting Pokemon some battle experience (Hoothoot is also common here at night). Get your Pokemon up to at least level ten before moving on past Cherrygrove City. If you need to heal your Pokemon, go to back to Elm's lab and use his computer. Along the way, there's an item ball that contains a potion off to the west, and just to the east of Cherrygrove City there's a tree where you can grab a Berry. The berries re-grow on trees like this every day, so stop by trees often to replenish your supplies.

Later: About half- way along this route, just to the south of the entrance to Route 46, is the place where you will encounter the first of the game's calendar-based characters. Tuscany will appear here, but only on Tuesdays, and only after you have earned your Zephyrbadge. Make sure to come back here to meet her, though, because if you talk to her she will give you a Pink Bow that powers up the normal attacks of the Pokemon holding it.

Cherrygrove City
Pokemon: Tentacool
Items: Map of Johto, Mystic Water
Once you get to Cherrygrove there is an old dude named Guide Gent at the entrance who will show you around town if you like. Answer "yes" to his offer even if you're a Pokemon veteran, because after his tour he gives you a handy Map Card for your Pokegear. There is a Pokemon Center in town with a Communication Center upstairs (where you trade and battle with other players via Game Link) but it isn't working yet. You will also find Time Capsules in Pokemon Centers, which are used to trade with Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, but these don't start working until you have entered Ecruteak City. There is also a Poke Mart, but Poke Balls are unavailable until you return to Bark Town as described later. Both functions will be restored once you have completed Prof. Elm's errand and you begin catching Pokemon.

Later: There is water here you can't cross yet, so your only option is to head north towards Violet City. Once you teach one of your Pokemon the Surf technique, cross the water and get the Mystic Water from the dude on the island. This powers-up the Water-type attacks of the Pokemon holding it.

The north exit from Cherrygrove City is Route 30, which leads to Violet City. Stop in the house here and the man inside will give you a Berry. Berries also grow on the tree outside his house. The good thing about a Berry is that you can equip it on a Pokemon, and whenever it's low on Hit Points, it will automatically use the fruit. Additionally, the trees replenish themselves once a day. Keep going north and you will reach Mr. Pokemon's House. He gives you the "Mystery Egg" which will eventually hatch into Togepi. Then, Professor Oak dashes out from behind a desk and gives you a brand-new Pokedex. As fast as he appeared, he rushes off to go to Goldenrod City. When you leave the house, Professor Elm calls, asking you back to New Bark Town immediately. Follow his instructions (he did give you a rare Pokemon, after all).

Later: Once you have collected some Pokemon, a guy near the entrance to the Dark Cave will give ask for your phone number if you talk to him. Talk to all the trainers you beat in the game, since many of them will also want to trade phone numbers. They will periodically call you to tell you about their adventures, but sometimes they will have useful information, particularly about when certain rare Pokemon are swarming. Much later, when you get the Red Scale, come back to talk to Mr. Pokemon again. He will trade it for the handy EXP Share, and item that lets the Pokemon holding it share in the EXP of every battle, even if it doesn't fight.

Back to New Bark Town
Items: PokeBalls
When you try to leave Cherrygrove, you are challenged by a boy (with the mysterious name ???) using one of the two Pokemon you didn't choose at the start (the one your Pokemon is weak against). Have no fear; provided you leveled-up your Pokemon, you should be able to beat him with no problem. After the fight, head for Professor Elm's Lab where the police will question you. Give them the boy's name. Elm is impressed by the fact that Oak gave you a Pokedex, and invites you to take the "Pokemon Challenge." On the way out, Elm's assistant hands you five Poke Balls. Before you leave town, visit your mom. She will save some of all the money you earn aside for you so you don't lose all of it if you "white out" (this happens when all of your Pokemon faint). Occasionally she will call and let you know she bought something for you and stored it in your PC. Don't worry, she usually buys useful stuff, and sometimes it's not available in most of the early Poke Marts. The first gym is in Violet City, which is where you're headed next. Trainers ???: Cyndaquil/ Chikorita/ Totodile (5)

When you leave the New Bark Town, a guy will stop you and show you how to catch Pokemon using Poke Balls. Go ahead and catch a few to expand your team. There are plenty of Sentrets and Pidgeys around, so grab one of each. If you take a quick run up into Route 46 you can catch a Geodude, too. (While you're at it, build his levels up a bit before you try for your first badge; he's strong against bird-type Pokemon you'll face there.) This is also the first place you will encounter Pokemon unique to Gold or Silver: Spinarak is unique to Gold, and you can only catch him at night, while Ledyba is unique to Silver, and only appears in the morning. Follow Route 30 to the left (rather than straight up to Mr. Pokemon's House) and it will eventually become Route 31. You will run across four junior trainers, all anxious to fight. By now they should be easy to beat, and you should have no problem getting to Violet City. Bypass the Dark Cave for now, but go ahead and pick up the Antidote near the entrance. There's also a Bitter Berry Tree and a Poke Ball nearby. Trainers Youngster Joey: Rattata (4) Youngster Mikey: Pidgey (2), Rattata (4) Bug Catcher Don: Caterpie (3), Caterpie (3) Bug Catcher Wade: Caterpie (2), Weedle (2), Caterpie (2), Caterpie (2)

Later: You will need to deliver a message from Goldenrod City to the guy next to the Bitter Berry tree in order to get TM50 (Nightmare).

Violet City and the Zephyrbadge

Pokemon: Onix
Items: Rare Candy
Items: TM31 - Mud Slap

Falkner, the "Elegant Master of Flying Pokemon," is the leader of the Violet Pokemon Gym. Unless you spent some time building up your Pokemon's levels, it will tough to beat him and his two "bird keeper" assistants all in one go. If you want to, you can clear Sprout Tower first to get some more EXP before trying to beat this gym. Remember that you can leave the gym between battles with his "lieutenants" to go back to the Pokemon Center and heal up.

Gym leader: Falkner
For: Zephyr Badge
Prizes: $900 and TM31
Pidgey- If you picked Cyndaquil, he will work well against Pidgey. Totodile will also fare well. However, Chikorita is weak against flying type Pokemon, but if it was trained fairly, it should do well.
Pidgeotto- You may find Pidgeotto a little more difficult than Pidgey, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem for you as long as you have a well balanced team. Use Sentret if you can. Depending on your version, you can have either Ledyba or Spiniarak.
Defeating him earns you the Zephyrbadge, which increases the Attack power of your Pokemon and enables them to use Flash (if they have it) outside of battle. He also gives you TM31, which can grant one of your Pokemon the Mud- Slap technique his Pidgeotto used against you! Trainers Bird Keeper Abe: Spearow (9) Bird Keeper Rod: Pidgey (7), Pidgey (7) After leaving the gym, Prof. Elm calls you about the egg. Go over to the Pokemon Center in town and you will meet with his assistant. Make sure you have room for another Pokemon in your team, because he will give the egg back to you and it will take up a slot in your team. He instructs you to call Prof. Elm when it hatches. The house in the lower right corner of the city holds a kid named Kyle who will trade his Onix for your Bellsprout (if you have one). There is also Earl's Pokemon Academy here where a guy who talks like Yoda will teach you the finer points of using Pokemon in battle. The blackboard behind him describes the various states your Pokemon can suffer, such as Burn and Paralyze.

Later: When the egg hatches, call Prof. Elm, who will ask you to come back to his lab. When you arrive there he will take a look at the hatched Togepi and give you an Everstone for your trouble. This item can be held by a Pokemon and will prevent it from evolving. Once you can Surf, there is a Rare Candy past the water to the northwest, and a PP Up past the water to the northeast.

In the north part of Violet City you will find the Sprout Tower. Battle your way to the top to earn the Flash HM. With the exception of a few odd Hoothoots, the "Sage" trainers here are using nothing but Grass-type Bellsprouts, so you should have no trouble if you stick to flying Pokemon like Pidgey and Spearow (or the Fire-type Cyndaquil, provided you chose it to start with). Make sure to explore the whole tower; you can pick up a Parlyz Heal, X Defend, Potion and Escape Rope in item balls scattered around. Although the tower is infested with Rattatas during the day, this place is haunted and at night you might be able to catch a Gastly. Make sure you take the time to catch one, not only to fill up your Pokedex, but also because this Ghost-type Pokemon is much improved from earlier versions of the game; it learns techniques such as Mean Look that make it very helpful when catching wild Pokemon. Trainers Sage Nico: Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3) Sage Chow: Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3) Sage Edmond: Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3), Bellsprout (3) Sage Jin: Bellsprout (6) Sage Neal: Bellsprout (6) Sage Troy: Bellsprout (7), Hoothoot (7) Sage Li: Bellsprout (7), Hoothoot (10), Bellsprout (7)

Take the road out of Violet City leading to the south from the Poke Mart. Pick up the Przcureberry as you head for Route 32, the way to Azalea Town. There is a guy along the road who will give you a Miracle Seed if you talk to him. There's also a Potion and Great Ball in item balls and a whole bunch of eager young trainers to battle. Use your Grass-type Pokemon to battle their water-types, and you should be fine. All this battling is plenty fun (and profitable), but what you're really looking for is the entrance to Union Cave. It is all the way to the south, past a handy Pokemon Center. Go in there and talk to the fisherman on the left. He'll give you an Old Rod which you can use by the water to fish for Pokemon. Fishing off the docks here will net you mostly Magikarp, but if you are persistent, you might hook a Tentacool and, when Ralph calls you about the swarm, you can catch the elusive Qwilfish. While exploring this route, make sure to catch the Electric-Type Mareep and the Ground/Water-Type Wooper (who appears most often at night). Later: Just to the North of the Poke Mart on this route is a little dead-end road where Frieda will appear every Friday. If you talk to her, she will give you a Poison Barb, which a powers up the Poison-type moves of the Pokemon holding it. Once you have Cut, you can hack through the tree north of Youngster Albert and talk to the guy there for the Roar TM.

You can't explore this area fully yet, but you can get to the first puzzle now. Solving the sliding-tile puzzle (it is a picture of a Kabuto) will drop you into the ruins below, where you can capture the mysterious Unown. Once you have caught at least three different shapes of Unown, go to the Alph Lab just outside the area. You will receive an upgrade to your Pokedex that lets you view and collect the different shapes of Unown. The solutions to the puzzles are pictures of the following Pokemon: Kabuto, Ho-oh, Charizard and Omanyte Later: You can access the rest of the ruins once you have Surf and Strength. Surf lets you swim to the south cave which contains a puzzle of Aerodactyl. The other two puzzles are reached through the Union Cave using Surf and Strength. The puzzle to the southwest is an Omanyte, while the one to the west is a picture of Ho-oh. The more puzzles you solve, the more varieties of Unown will be available to be caught. (There are 26 variations in all, one for each letter of the English alphabet. Ruins of ALPH, get it?). After you have caught all 26 Unowns, you should return to the lab. Using the machine in the corner, you will now be able to use the Unown shapes to create and print out banners using the "Unown font" (if you have a GB Printer). The western area of the ruins is also home to one lone trainer, and there is a patch of grass where you can try to catch unusual new Pokemon: Natu and Smeargle. Trainers Psychic Nathan: Girafarig (26)

You have to go through these caves to get to the next Gym challenge. While you are battling the trainers here, don't forget to fully explore the area; there's a Potion, Great Ball, X Attack and an Awakening to be had here. Past Pokemaniac Larry there's a ladder that leads down to a deeper level of the cave, where you can find an X Defend and more importantly TM39, which can grant one of your Pokemon the never-misses Swift attack. Trainers Hiker Daniel: Onix (11) Hiker Russell: Geodude (4), Geodude (8), Geodude (6) Firebreather Bill: Koffing (6), Koffing (6) Firebreather Ray: Vulpix (9) Pokemaniac Larry: Slowpoke (10) Later: Surf and Strength will grant you access to the deeper levels of this cave. There are more trainers to battle, and an Elixer and Hyper Potion to pick up. The big news, however, is Lapras. This is an excellent Water/Ice Pokemon that only shows up here, at the south end of the cave's lowest level, and only on Fridays. You really want this Pokemon on hand for the final battles of the game, so prepare well to catch it (save the game beforehand and stock up on Heavy Balls). Trainers Pokemaniac Andrew: Marowak (24), Marowak (24) Pokemaniac Calvin: Kangaskhan (26) Cool Trainer Gwen: Eevee (26), Vaporeon (22), Flareon (22), Jolteon (22) Cool Trainer Emma: Poliwhirl (28) Cool Trainer Nick: Charmander (26), Squirtle (26), Bulbasaur (26) Hiker Leonard: Geodude (23), Machop (25) Hiker Phillip: Geodude (23), Geodude (23), Graveler (25)

Route 33 As you emerge from Union Cave onto Route 33, there's a PsnCureBerry tree right there for you. Defeat Anthony and trade phone numbers with him; he will let you know when the Dark Cave is swarming with Dunsparce. Continue west along this very short path to Azalea Town. Trainers Hiker Anthony: Geodude (11), Machop (11)

Azalea Town
Items: Charcoal
Berry Trees: WHT Apricorn

The Poke Mart here has some cool new items, including Charcoal that your Pokemon can hold to charge up their Fire- type techniques. Go to Kurt's House at the north end of town and talk to him. He will tell you all about Team Rocket and how they have stolen all the Slowpokes from the town. He rushes out of the room to go save them. You will find him at the Slowpoke Well near the entrance to the town you couldn't enter before. Before you follow after him, go behind his house to grab a Wht Apricorn from the tree. Later: After you find the charcoal maker's apprentice in the Ilex Forest, return to his house and he will award you with Charcoal. Once you have helped him save the Slowpokes, you can bring Apricorns to Kurt and he will make them into Balls for you (it takes a day). Depending on the type of Apricorn, the resulting Ball will be different, as shown on the table below: Apricorn ColorResult BlackHeavy BallBlue Lure BallGreen Friend BallPink Love BallRed Level BallWhite Fast BallYellow Moon BallHere's what these balls are good for: Fast Ball: good at capturing Pokemon who try to flee, such as Abra. Friend Ball: improves the mood of the captured Pokemon. Heavy Ball: good at capturing Pokemon that weigh a lot, such as Lapras and Snorlax. Level Ball: good at capturing Pokemon with lower levels than yours. Love Ball: good at capturing Pokemon of the opposite gender. Lure Ball: good at capturing Pokemon caught with a Rod. Moon Ball: good at capturing Pokemon that evolve with a Moon Stone, such as Clefairy.

Go down into the well and battle the Team Rocket members you find there, and grab the Super Potion while you're at it. As a reward, Kurt (an expert Poke Ball maker) will give you a Lure Ball. Although they are fairly rare, Slowpoke can be caught in here after you beat Team Rocket. It's not a great Pokemon, but in Gold and Silver it can evolve beyond Slowbro into the mighty Slowking, so it's worth the trouble to hunt one down. Trainers Rocket Grunt: Rattata (9), Rattata (9) Rocket Grunt: Zubat (9), Ekans (11) Rocket Grunt: Rattata (7), Zubat (9), Zubat (9) Rocket Grunt: Koffing (14)

Later: Once you have Pokemon with Strength and Surf, you can get past the boulder at the north end of the caves and make your way to the lower level of this area. An item ball down here contains TM18 (Rain Dance), while a fellow will hand you the King's Rock if you talk to him. This item is used to get the final evolution of Slowbro and the alternate evolution of Poliwhirl.

Azalea Town Gym and the Hivebadge
Items: Charcoal, TM49 (Fury Cutter)
Now you're ready to go to the Azalea Town Pokemon Gym and battle Bugsy.

Gym Leader: Bugsy
For: Hive Badge
Prizes: TM49, Pokemon up to Level 30 Obey
Metapod - Lv.14 - An extremely easy Pokemon to beat. You may want to use one of your weaker Pokemon against Metapod to gain some easy levels.
Kakuna - Lv. 14 - Another easy Pokemon to beat. Once again, you should be working on leveling up your weaker Pokemon for experience Points.
Scyther - Lv. 16 - You've fought your easy Pokemon, and now it's time for a small challenge. If you chose Cyndaquil, Scyther will be VERY easy. Any other type of Pokemon strong against Bug-Types will fare well, too.

She uses Bug-type Pokemon, so be sure to bring your Pidgey, Spearow and/or Geodude to the fight and you should be able to defeat her. Make sure to take out her Scyther quickly or put it to sleep, since its Fury Cutter technique builds up power with each successive hit. When you win, she awards you the Hivebadge, which allows you to control Pokemon up to level 30 and allows the Cut technique to be used outside of battle (by those Pokemon that know it). She also gives you TM49, which contains the Fury Cutter technique. On your way out of town to the west, your rival meets you again for another match. Have Awakening and Parlyz Heal on hand for this battle to counter the Supersonic, Lick and Hypnosis attacks that he will use against you. Trainers Twins Amy & May: Ledyba (10), Spinarak (10) Bug Catcher Al: Caterpie (12), Weedle (12) Bug Catcher Benny: Weedle (7), Beedrill (12), Kakuna (9) Bug Catcher Josh: Paras (13)

After you defeat the gym leader, immedeatly go to the Pokemon Center and save your game. It's time to fight your Rival Again.
Gastly - Lv 12 - Gastly will be easy if you have a normal Pokemon with an attack that isn't normal type. Gastly is unable to attack normal type Pokemon, and Normal type Pokemon are unable to attack Gastly.
Zubat - Lv. 14 - Zubat shouldn't be difficult at all either. Any Pokemon will fare well against it. The only attack to look out for is Leech Life, which drains HP from you Pokemon and gives some of it to Zubat.
AND Croconaw - Lv 16 - If your Rival has Croconaw, it'll have Watergun. That is the only attack to watch out for. If you have Cyndaquil, don't use it here. Use a grass type Pokemon if avalible.
OR Bayleef - Lv. 16 - If your Rival Has a Bayleef, watch out for it's Razor Leaf attack! It has a great chance of getting a critical hit, which Can be very painful, considering critical attacks do 1.5 times the damage.
OR Quiliva - Lv. 16 - Nothing much to worry about here. Quiliva shouldn't be problem at all for you.

Continue on to the Ilex Forest and chase the Farfetch'd until you drive it into the arms of the charcoal maker's apprentice. His grateful master will give you HM01, which you can use to teach your Pokemon the handy Cut technique. While you are chasing the bird, keep an eye out for the item ball in the forest; it contains Revive. Go north by cutting your way through the trees and you will make your way to a green-haired person who gives you TM02 (Headbutt). This powerful attack technique can be used against certain trees (they look smaller than their neighbors) to shake them and get Pokemon to come out. This is the only way you will find Aipom, Heracross and Pineco. In this particular area, you will find Pineco (the other two can be found on Route 42). From here, continue on to Route 34.

In the guard house leading from the forest to Route 34 there is a lady standing next to a Butterfree who will give you TM12 (Sweet Scent) if you talk to her. There are quite a few junior trainers along the way to battle, and the wild Pokemon here are higher level than they were before, giving you an excellent opportunity to build up your own Pokemon's levels before proceeding to the next gym (provided you can stand the annoyance of fighting so many Drowzees). Although they rarely appear, Abra and Ditto can also be found here, and you'll want to catch at least one Drowzee to trade for a Machop later. This route is also where you find the Day Care center, just to the south of Goldenrod City. The old man and old lady here can take care of your Pokemon, and over time they will gain levels while they stay here. To get your Pokemon back you will have to pay them, however, and they won't be as strong as if you leveled them up yourself. The difference between this Day Care Center and the one in the previous Pokemon games is that you can actually breed Pokemon here. If you give a male Pokemon to the old man, and a female of the same species (or a similar species-or even a Ditto; go ahead and experiment) to the old lady, when you come back later there might be an egg. Carry it around in your team for a while (like you did with Togepi) and it will eventually hatch. This is the only way to get certain Pokemon, such as mating two Pikachus to get a Pichu. Trainers Youngster Samuel: Rattata (7), Sandshrew (10), Spearow (8), Spearow (8) Pokefan Brandon: Snubbull (13) Youngster Ian: Mankey (10), Diglett (12) Picknicker Gina: Hoppip (9), Hoppip (9), Bulbasaur (12) Guard Keith (only at night): Growlithe (17) Camper Todd: Psyduck (14)

Later: Using the Surf technique, head into the water to the west of this route and go south. After a short walk inland, you will discover a trio of sisters who will battle you one after the other. This will be a tough fight, but if you beat them all they reward you with the Soft Sand. Give it to one of your Pokemon and it will power-up its Ground-type attacks. Trainers Cool Trainer Irene: Goldeen (22), Seaking (24) Cool Trainer Jenn: Staryu (24), Starmie (26) Cool Trainer Kate: Shellder (26), Cloyster (28)

Once you finally make it to Goldenrod City, you will have plenty to do. The city is packed with shops and interesting characters, so make sure to explore every building. Across the street from the Poke Center is a six-story Poke Mart that sells tons of cool stuff.
Ground Floor: Reception
2nd Floor: Potion PokeBall Super Potion Great Ball Antidote Escape Rope Paralyz Heal Repel Awakening Revive Burn Heal Full Heal Ice Heal Poke Doll Flower Mail
3rd Floor: X Speed X Special X Defend X Attack Dire Hit Guard Spec X Accuracy
4th Floor: Protein Iron Carbos Calcium HP UP 5th Floor: TM41, TM48, TM33, TM02, TM08 On Sundays, you can get either TM27 or TM21. You get them from the lady behind the counter, she gives you TM27 if your Pokemon like you, or TM21 if they do not. You can go there more than once, but only once per Sunday. Also there is a guy who wants to trade your Drowzee for his Machop.
On the 6th floor there are vending machines that sell Fresh Water, Lemonade and Soda Pop. These drinks will restore some HP in battle.
Of particular note is the Lemonade for sale on the top floor, which pound-for- pound is the best healing item in the game. There are TMs for sale on the fifth floor, but a few of them (Headbutt and Rock Smash) aren't available until you earn them elsewhere first. Also on the fifth floor is a girl who will give you a Machop in exchange for a Drowzee. It's a good trade, so take it! If you are playing on a Game Boy Color, a girl will appear near the stairs here. When you talk to her, the Mystery Gift function will be activated. Now, you can trade items with your friends and get "Watts" from the Pokemon Pikachu 2 device through the Game Boy Color's IR-device. In case you didn't know, for every 999 Watts, you get a Rare Candy! Turn right after the huge Poke Mart and you will find the home of a woman who will tell you the mood of your lead Pokemon. This is important to know because certain Pokemon only evolve when their mood is very good. These Pokemon are: Togepi, Golbat, Chansey, Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff and Eevee (when it evolves into Umbreon or Espeon). How do you make a Pokemon happier? Basically, use it a lot and don't put it store it in the PC. The Pokemon Salon in this city also does wonders for a Pokemon's mood. Farther down the same road is a Bike Shop where you can pick up a free bike. The next left turn after the Poke Center will take you into a side street that contains the Game Corner, Bill's House and an entrance to the Goldenrod City Tunnel. You can't play the games in the Game Corner until you get the Coin Case in the tunnel, and Bill's not home right now so all you can get is his phone number (go ahead and do that now), so go straight to the tunnel. The Goldenrod City Tunnel links the two halves of the city, and contains a few shops with odd hours. Grab the Coin Case in the item ball so you can gamble at the Game Corner. The Bargains Shop is only open on Monday mornings, and sells items that can be resold elsewhere for a small profit. The Pokemon Salon is closed on Mondays, and is a great place to make Pokemon like Togepi happier so they will evolve. The Herb Shop is only open on weekends, and it sells healing and revive items that are a great bargain, but worsen your Pokemon's mood because they are so bitter. Trainers Pokemaniac Donald: Slowpoke (10), Slowpoke (10) Super Nerd Teru: Magnemite (7), Magnemite (7), Magnemite (7), Voltorb (11) Pokemaniac Isaac: Lickitung (12) Super Nerd Eric: Grimer (11), Grimer (11) Once you have the Coin Case, you can play at the Game Corner for fabulous prizes, including three powerful TMs and the Dragon-type Pokemon Dratini! The slot machines will be familiar to those who played the original Pokemon games, and there is a new card flip game. The card flip game is the one to play, because the odds are actually in your favor. This is because the deck is only shuffled after twelve flips of the 24-card deck, meaning your odds continue to improve right up until the twelfth card. Just make sure every bet you place only covers cards that have not turned up yet, and always play all twelve flips so you take advantage of the better odds. It may take a while, but in the long run you will win more than you lose. It still costs $1000 for 50 coins, or you can buy in bulk - $10,000 for 500 coins. There are prizes to be bought, this time you can do that in the same building. You can buy: Abra $200 TM25 $5500 Ekans (Gold) $700 TM14 $5500 Sandshrew (Silver) $700 TM38 $5500 Dratini $2100. The second left brings you to the Radio Tower, where they will give you a Radio Card for your PokeGear if you answer a simple quiz. (But if you find it too difficult, the answers are Yes, Yes, No, Yes, No.) Walking past the railroad tracks, on your left you will find the other side of the Goldenrod City Tunnel and a house with a guy who will rate the nicknames of your Pokemon and let you change them. Straight ahead is the exit to Route 35, and on the right is the Gym. All the Pokemon she and her junior trainers use are Normal-type, so you should have no problem crushing them with your Machop and Gastly. Try to have some male Pokemon in your team, because her Miltank (a female Pokemon) uses Attract, which causes Pokemon of the opposite gender to fall in love (missing 50% of their attacks in the process).

Clefairy - Whitney's level 18 Clefairy can either be a pain, or simple, depending on luck. I used a leveled Up Togepi's metronome on it. If Clefairy is a problem for you, you'd better go back and level up, because Whitney's next Pokemon Miltank, is even more hard.
Miltank - Whitney also has a level 20 Miltank, which is one of the single most annoying things ever put on the planet. It has the Rollout attack, which attacks between 2-5 turns, with the damage increasing a lot each time. You'll need high levels and luck to successfully eliminate Miltank.
After you defeat Whitney, talk to one of her friends while she collects her senses (she's really broken up about being defeated). Talk to her a second time and she awards you the Plain Badge, which boosts your Pokemon's speed and allows you to use Strength out of battle. She also gives you TM45, which you can use to endow one of your Pokeon with the annoying Attract technique. Trainers Beauty Victoria: Sentret (9), Sentret (13), Sentret (17) Beauty Samantha: Meowth (16), Meowth (16) Lass Carrie: Snubbull (18) Lass Bridget: Jigglypuff (15), Jigglypuff (15), Jigglypuff (15) After you beat Whitney, go to the building in the northeast corner of the city and talk to the girl there to get a free Squirtbottle. As you leave town to the north, talk to the guard in the guard house. He will ask you to deliver a message to the guy standing next to the Bitter Berry tree on Route 31 (remember him?). It's easier to go there later (after you unblock the path at Route 36) rather than backtracking all the way now.

Later: On Sundays, a woman dressed in red appears behind the counter on the fifth floor of the Poke Mart. She will give you one of two TMs based on the mood of your lead Pokemon. If it is in a good mood, she will give you TM27 (Return), while TM21 (Frustration) is yours if it is in a bad mood. She will give you nothing if your lead Pokemon's mood is neutral. Check your Pokemon's mood in the building around back of the Mart so you get the one you want. After delivering the guard's message, come back here and he will award you an HP Up. After meeting Bill in Ecruteak City, come back to his house to get a free Evee.

The National Park north of Route 35 is populated by four more trainers to battle, and is the home of another new Pokemon: the Grass-type Sunkern. A woman sitting on a bench to the right will give you a Quick Claw if you talk to her, and keep an eye out for the hole in the fence in the upper- right corner of the round plaza. Going through here will allow you to circle to the right for a Parlyz Heal or all the way around to the left to grab the TM28 (Dig). Trainers Pokefan Beverly: Snubbull (14) Schoolboy Jack: Oddish (12), Voltorb (15) Lass Krise: Oddish (12), Cubone (15) Poke Fan William: Raichu (14) The real feature here, though, is the Bug-Catching Contest held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Similar to the Safari Zone in the original games, you are given twenty Park Balls and one of your Pokemon to try and catch the rarest Bug Pokemon you can. The top prize of a Sun Stone is what you want here, since you need it to evolve Sunkern into Sunflora and Gloom into Bellossom (in fact, you will probably want to win two of them, but sadly there is only one contest per day).

Once you are entered in the contest you will receive 20 parkballs, you
have 20 minutes until the contest ends, it can also end if you run out of parkballs or if your pokemon faints.
Here are the pokemon you can catch only in the tournament (in BOTH versions):

You can keep only one pokemon at a time, meaning that if you caught a
pokemon and then caught another one you will have to choose which one to keep. Once the contest is over the judge will decide which of the contestents gotwhich prize and you may keep the pokemon you caught.

In order to win first place, you will probably need to catch a Scyther, although Pinsir might do it for you (and you will want to catch them anyway, so this is a double reward). For your best shot at Scyther, try the tall grass in the north half of the park. Pinsir seems to be more common in the shorter grass.

Proceeding east from the National Park brings you to short Route 36 and a few more trainers. Grab the Ice Berry just above you and continue on to battle Mark and Alan. This area is also the first place you will encounter Stantler and the first Fire-types in the game (unless you started with Quilava): Growlithe (in Gold) or Vulpix (in Silver). Trainers Psychic Mark: Abra (13), Abra (13), Kadabra (15) Schoolboy Alan: Tangela (16) Remember that "odd tree" that blocked your way west of Violet City? Well, it blocks you here again, but this time you are equipped to get rid of it. Use the Squirtbottle you picked up in Goldenrod City on the "tree" and it will reveal its true nature as a Sudowoodo. It will attack you immediately (apparently it doesn't like being watered), so be prepared to capture it; this will be your only chance to net the game's only pure Rock-type Pokemon. Make sure to detour to the right and talk to the guy lust east of Sudowoodo; he'll give you a TM08 (Rock Smash) in gratitude for getting rid of the pesky "tree."

Later: On Thursdays, Arthur will appear just north of the guy who hands you TM08. He will give you a Hard Stone for powering-up your Rock attacks.

Once the Sudowoodo is out of the way, you can travel north through Route 37 on your way to Ecruteak City. Aside for a few more trainers to battle, the main feature of this route is the cluster of Apricorn trees in the upper-right corner. Trainers Twins Ann & Anne: Jigglypuff (16), Clefairy (16) Psychic Greg: Drowzee (17)

Later: On Sundays, Sunny will be standing around near the Apricorn trees, eager to hand you a Magnet to power up your Electric-type attacks.

There is lots to do in this city, starting with the Poke Center near the entrance. Inside you will find Bill, who informs you that the Time Capsules have been repaired. One day after you speak to Bill, you will be able to trade Pokemon between Gold and Silver and the original Red, Blue and Yellow games using the Game Link cable. The small house to the left of the Poke Center contains a fellow who will give you the Item Finder. It will beep if there are hidden items close by. Behind the Poke Center is the Dance Hall, where five elegant Kimono Girls will battle you with using the various Eevee evolutions. They are tough, but it should be easy to win if you bring the proper types of Pokemon. The prize for defeating them all is the vital HM03, which allows you to teach your Pokemon to Surf. Trainers Kimono Girl Naoko: Flareon (17) Kimono Girl Sayo: Espeon (17) Kimono Girl Zuki: Umbreon (17) Kimono Girl Kuni: Vaporeon (17) Kimono Girl Miki: Jolteon (17) Way back in the northwest corner of town is the Burned Tower. Bring a Pokemon with the Shatter Stone technique, because you will need it to get through the halls here. As you enter, your rival will attack you, so be prepared for a tough fight. Once you get past him, the tower contains some excellent items (X Speed, Burn Heal, HP Up and TM20) and is the only place you can catch the powerful Magmar. It is here all the time, but most commonly found during the day. Go ahead and dive through the pit in the center of the first floor, since it will allow you to unleash the game's three Legendary Pokemon: Raikou, Suicune and Entei. You can't capture them here, but from this point forward they will be running around Johto for you to chase down later.

The Gym Leader in this city is Morty, master of Ghost-Type Pokemon.

Gym Leader: Morty
For: Fog Badge
Prizes: TM30 (Shadow Ball)

Gastly- Morty has a level 21 Gastly, and this is his easiest Pokemon. You have to watch out for curse, it's most powerful attack, where it will stab itself for about half of its total amount of HP, then put a curse on you, where you can lose up to that amount of HP per turn. Haunter-
Morty's level 21 Haunter is a bit tougher than his Gastly, but it shows. You'll notice unlike Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, these Pokemon are trained with strategy in mind. He'll put you to sleep before using Dream Eater, or make sure you're parylized before using Curse.
Gengar- Morty's level 25 Gengar is the most frusterating thing you have encountered thus far, and believe me, you may need to have serveral attempts before you can actually defeat it. Use strategy, and remember, Psychic Pokemon will fail you here.
Haunter- This level 23 Haunter will use the same strategies as the previous Haunter did. Use the strategies you used against the previous Haunter.

This won't be an easy battle (be sure to save the game before trying to beat this gym), but it is winnable if you prepare well. Since the Gastly family of Pokemon are also Poison-type, they are vulnerable to Psychic and Ground attacks. Ghost-type moves can't effect Normal-type Pokemon, so you can also try teaching a Normal-type Pokemon like Furret a non-Normal attack. Equip your Pokemon with PrzCureBerries since they will be Licked quite a bit, and bring Awakening potions to revive your Hypnotized Pokemon. Getting to Morty and his junior trainers is no easy task since the floors are invisible. To stay on the path, walk directly toward or away from the trainers when moving left and right, and stay even with the Poke Ball-topped towers near the entrance when moving up and down. Beating Morty earns you the Fog Badge, allowing you to command the obedience of Pokemon up to Level 50, and allowing you to use the Surf technique outside of battle (which is absolutely necessary). He also awards you TM30 (Shadow Ball). Trainers Sage Ping: Gastly (16), Gastly (16), Gastly (16), Gastly (16), Gastly (16) Medium Grace: Haunter (20), Haunter (20) Sage Jeffrey: Haunter (22) Medium Martha: Gastly (18), Gastly (20), Haunter (20)

Save, then head towards the building in the northern part of town, which is the Burned Tower. Before you can enter it's time for a Rival Battle.
Haunter- Your Rival has a level 20 Haunter, and boy, does this seem falmilliar? You should basically have the strategy to defeat haunter burned into your mind, so I'm not even going to tell you what to do.
Zubat- He also has a level 20 Zubat, which should be a piece of cake. Use any electric attack avalible, which shouldn't be a problem if you have raised a Mareep from the beginning of the game.
Magnemite- The Magnemite he has is level 18. Watch out for its Sonic Boom attack, which no matter what type you are, will take away 20 HP. Remember that Magnemite is Electric AND Steel.
AND Croconaw- Your rival has a level 22 Croconaw which will be simple if you have any Pokemon with electric attacks. Even grass attacks will do well against this Pokemon.
OR Bayleef- Your rival's Level 22 Bayleef may be a problem for you if you are facing it. It likes to use Razor Leaf, which has a high percentage rate of getting a critical hit. If you have a fire attack, you stand a chance against this Pokemon.
OR Quiliva- He might have a level 22 Quiliva, which shouldn't be too hard for you. Just make sure you don't use Your Bayleef against it, because obviously type advantage will cause you to lose.

Later: Come back to the Burned Tower with a Pokemon with Strength. Drop down the pit in the northeast corner of the first floor and you'll land near a rock. Shoving it out of the way reveals an item ball containing TM20 (Endure).

Leaving Ecruteak to the west brings you to Route 38, where you will find a Berry tree and more trainers to battle. Most interesting is the opportunity to catch several new Pokemon, including Farfetch'd, Tauros and Miltank. Trade phone numbers with Chad and he will alert you to swarms of Snubbull in this area. The farm at the north end of Route 38 is in trouble, and only you can help! Their best Miltank is sick, and it needs Berries to recover. Seven of them. Sadly, the berry tree right outside only grows Mint Berries, so it may take you some time to gather all the Berries you need. In exchange for all this work, the farmer will give you TM13 (Snore) and from this point forward will sell Milk, a powerful healing potion (but not as economical as Lemonade). Trainers Sailor Harry: Wooper (19) Lass Dana: Flaaffy (17), Psyduck (18) Bird Keeper Toby: Doduo (15), Doduo (16), Doduo (17) Schoolboy Chad: Mr. Mime (17) Beauty Valerie: Hoppip (17), Skiploom (17) Psychic Norman: Slowpoke (17), Slowpoke (20) Poke Fan Derek: Pikachu (12) Poke Fan Ruth: Pikachu (17) Sailor Eugene: Poliwhirl (17), Raticate (17), Krabby (19)

Olivine City
Pokemon: Krabby, Voltorb, Chinchou
Items: Good Rod, HM04

This city hosts the usual assortment of Poke Center, Poke Mart and Gym, but the Gym Leader is not there. She's in the Lighthouse in the southeast corner of town. On your way down there, stop by a few local houses for some nice opportunities. Just past the Gym is a fisherman's house. He will give you the Good Rod which you can use right in town to catch Krabby and if you're lucky, Staryu (but only at night). Rare Pokemon can also be caught in the waters between the docks. Take a Krabby over to the house above the Lighthouse and swap it for a Voltorb. Finally, in the west end of town near the exit to Route 40, stop in to grab HM04 (Strength). The Olivine Lighthouse is literally packed with trainers who have tons of money, so this is a great opportunity to improve your Pokemon and your bankroll. The only way to make it all the way to the top is to intentionally fall through the pit on level 4, which then allows you access to the stairs to the top. In addition to trainers, there are some great items to pick up, so be sure to explore every corner and find the Ether, Super Potion, Great Ball, Rare Candy and TM34 (Swagger). Once you get to the top, Jasmine will let you down by refusing your challenge. Instead, she asks you to travel to Cianwood and retrieve medicine for the sick Ampharos. Trainers Gentleman Alfred: Noctowl (20) Sailor Huey: Poliwag (18), Poliwhirl (18) Bird Keeper Derek: Pidgey (17), Pidgey (15), Pidgey (19), Pidgey (15), Pidgey (15) Gentleman Preston: Growlithe (18), Growlithe (18) Sailor Terrell: Poliwhirl (20) Lass Connie: Marill (21) Sailor Kent: Krabby (18), Krabby (20) Sailor Earnest: Machop (18), Machop (18), Poliwhirl (18) Bird Keeper Denis: Spearow (18), Spearow (18), Fearow (20)

Later: Once you have obtained the Secret Potion from Cianwood, you can return here to battle

Magnemite - The level 30 Magnemite looks easier than it actually is. You'll have to knock it out as best you can, hopefully with a fire Pokemon you've collected along the way.
Magnemite - Use the same strategy you also used on the previous level 30 Magnemite on this Magnemite.
Stelix - Onix sucked but this Pokemon makes up for that. You'll need brute strength and a fire Pokemon-oh yeah, don't forget to add a dash of luck. This Pokemon is extremely tough! Good Luck!
If you have a powerful Ground-type Pokemon, it would probably be your best bet since it is resistant to Electric, but you can also try Fighting or Fire-types since Steel is weak against them too. A win here earns the Mineral Badge, which raises the Defense of all your Pokemon. She also gives you TM23 (Iron Tail).

Your first priority here is to get the Secret Potion for the sick Ampharos, so head for the house at the south end of town to pick it up. Just north of this building is another house where you can get a free Shuckle. All the way at the north end of town is the photographer. If you hook up the Game Boy Printer, you can print out pitcures of your favorite Pokemon complete with their stats! Chuck, the leader of the Cianwood Gym, specailizes in Fighting-type Pokemon.

Gym Leader: Chuck
For: Storm Badge Prizes: TM01 (Dynamic Punch)
Primeape - Chuck's level 27 Primape is a formadible opponent. Your best bet is to use a flying type Pokemon against it. Try to use fly as much as possible. Even putting it to sleep will help.
Poliwrath - This Poliwrath is tough-- it's on level 30, and it has the dynamic punch attack, which will be able to wreck havoc on your Pokemon. Try putting it to sleep or paralyzing it before it gets the 'upper hand' on you.
In order to beat this gym, you will need a Pokemon with Strength to move aside the boulders, and some good Psychic Pokemon to use in battle. Flying-types are handy as well, since they are resistant to Fighting attacks, and if you started the game with Chikorita, its evolved form (Bayleef or Meganium) will serve you well against the tough Poliwrath trained by Chuck himself. Defeating him earns you the Storm Badge, allowing mastery of Pokemon up to level 70 and the use of Fly outside of battle. He will also give you TM01, which contains Dynamic Punch. Trainers Black Belt Yoshi: Hitmonlee (27) Black Belt Lao: Hitmonchan (27) Black Belt Nob: Machop (25), Machoke (25) Black Belt Lung: Mankey (23), Mankey (23), Primeape (25After you K.O. Chuck, talk to the lady outside the gym. She will give you the remarkably handy HM02, allowing you to teach your Pokemon the Fly technique. You can use it right away to return to Olivine City with the medicine and battle Jasmine for the Mineral Badge.

Traveling east from Ecruteak City will take you to Mahogany town by way of Route 42, but you will need to use Surf to cross the water. Skip the cave entrance you will pass here, since you can't finish that area without Waterfall (HM07). Instead, forge on eastward, grabbing the Ultra Ball and Super Potion and battling trainers as you go. Use Headbutt on the small trees here and you might shake loose a Heracross or a Aipom. Also of interest along this route is a cluster of rare Apricorn trees. This is the only place in the game to find Pink, Green and Yellow Apricorns. Trainers Fisher Chris: Qwilfish (18) Pokemaniac Shane: Nidorina (16), Nidorino (16) Hiker Benjamin: Diglett (14), Geodude (14), Dugtrio (16)

Team Rocket is up to their usual tricks, and this time they have shut down the Mahogany Town Gym and blocked off the way to Route 44. This means your only way to go for now is north through the guard house. The item shop in the center of town will only sell a strange assortment of items (see below) until the Team Rocket situation has been resolved. Tinymushroom 500 Slowpoketail 9800 Poke Ball 200 Potion 300 Later: Once Team Rocket is out of the way, you will be able to get into the gym to battle Pryce for the Glacier Badge. Appropriately enough, the floor of his gym is covered in slippery ice. This is a nice touch of style, but it makes navigating this gym trickier than battling the Pokemon here.

Gym Leader: Pryce
For: Glacier Badge
Prizes: TM46 Icy Wind
Seel - Pryce's Level 27 Seel shouldn't be a problem for you if you have a Pokemon, such as Denryuu with an Electric Attack.
Dewgong - Being level 29 and an evolution of Seel, Dewgong will only be a bit tougher than Seel. Once again, Electric Punch, will take it out after a Thunderwave to Parylize it.
Piloswine - Piloswine is on level 31, and it is Pryce's strongest Pokemon. Any Electric or water attack should easily take out Piloswine, because of its Ground attributes. Good Luck!
Bring your best Electric, Fire and Fighting Pokemon and you should do fine. A Water-type (good news for you Totodile starters) will do well against Pryce's strongest Pokemon, the mammoth- like Piloswine (a Ground/Ice-type). Victory here earns the Glacier Badge, which increases your Pokemon's Special stat and allows you to use Whirlpool outside of battle. You also get TM16, which contains the Icy Wind technique. Trainers Skier Roxanne: Jynx (28) Boarder Ronald: Seel (24), Dewgong (25), Seel (24) Skier Clarissa: Dewgong (28) Boarder Brad: Swinub (26), Swinub (26) Boarder Douglas: Shellder (24), Shellder (24), Cloyster (25)

Mahogany Town isn't the only place Team Rocket has screwed up; they have taken residence in the guard house here and demand a toll of 1,000 to pass. You can avoid the toll by taking the long route (through the tall grass), which is probably just as well since there is a rare new Pokemon to catch here. There are trainers a-plenty to battle here, and you can Surf across the water to the west to grab a Bitter Berry. There is also a Max Ether in an item ball just north of the guard house. Trainers Camper Spencer: Sandshrew (17), Sandslash (17), Zubat (17) Picknicker Tiffany: Clefairy (20) Pokemaniac Brent: Lickitung (19) Fisher Marvin: Magikarp (10), Gyarados (10), Magikarp (15), Gyarados (15) Pokemaniac Ron: Nidoking (19) Pokemaniac Ben: Slowbro (19) There are two exits from this area to the Lake of Rage. The one on the west leads to some non- essential bonus items, while the east path is where you need to go to continue. Lake of Rage, this maze-like area holds the key to getting Team Rocket out of Mahogany Town. The western entrance leads to a path where you will Cut your way to an item ball containing TM43 (Detect) and a house where a man will hand you TM10 (Hidden Power). The eastern entrance leads to the Lake proper, where you will find a strange red Gyarados swimming around. You need to battle it to get to the bottom of this, and it would be pretty cool to catch it, too. Remember that you have only one chance to get it, though. Don't knock it out by accident. Whether you catch it or K.O. it, you'll get a Red Scale that you can trade to Mr. Pokemon (remember him, back on Route 30?) for an EXP Share. Climbing back ashore you meet Lance, who will join forces with you to put an end to Team Rocket's plans. Follow him back to Mahogany Town. Note about the Red Gyarados: Did you know that there are other Pokemon hidden in Gold/Silver that have alternate colors, aka shiny status? There is no easy way to find them (except for the Red Gyarados) as they appear at random -- but they're out there. If you see specially colored Pokemon, be sure to catch them as they are very rare. You can recognize them by the sparkle effect when they appear in battle, or by checking on the Pokemon Status Screen. Next to the Male/Female symbol, these special Pokemon are marked with three dots. There are any number of these rare types, including alternate versions of Nidoking (dark blue), Golbat (purple/green), Tentacruel (green eyes), Rapidash (purple), Scyther (orange/green), Hoothoot (yellow/purple), Sudowoodu (green/red), Ho-oh (yellow/orange), and more. Later: Wesley appears outside the Hidden Power man's house, but only on Wednesdays. He will give you a Blackbelt, which powers up - you guessed it - Fighting- type attacks when held by a Pokemon. Once Team Rocket has been dealt with in this area, the lake opens up for fishing once again. The house in the southeast corner of this area holds a Magikarp fishing contest: bring him your Magikarp, and if they beatthe length record, you get a Max Ether! (Wow.) More importantly, some fisherman-type trainers have flocked back to the region and you can battle them if you like. Trainers Fisher Raymond: Magikarp (22), Magikarp (22), Magikarp (22), Magikarp (22) Fisher Andre: Gyarados (27) Cool Trainer Lois: Skiploom (25), Ninetales (25) Cool Trainer Aaron: Ivysaur (24), Charmeleon (24), Wartortle (24) Team Rocket H.Q. It turns out that the Gyarados in the Lake of Rage are being driven mad by a machine set up by Team Rocket below the Mahogany Town item shop. You will need to head there and take care of them. By now you can see that the dreaded Team has an unhealthy fixation on Poison-type Pokemon (and Rattata), so choose your team accordingly (Psychic is best, so make sure you level up your Abra/ Kadabra/ Alakazam and bring it along). Right at the bottom of the stairs you will come across a Pokemon statue. When you walk past it, a pair of Team Rocket grunts will jump out and attack you. To avoid this fate every time you walk past a statue, find the security computer and shut off the cameras. Take the first exit south, then the first exit south again (avoid the temptation to grab the item ball for now). Walking through the narrow corridor will bring you to a computer terminal where you can throw a switch and shut off the cameras and avoid any more grunt encounters when you pass the statues. Now you can go back and grab the Hyper Potion you skipped, as well as the X Accuracy next to the terminal. Continue south from where you picked up the Hyper Potion, and you will find a Gold Nugget and stairs down. (There are pit traps in the area north of the stairs, but since you don't need to go through there, why mess with them?) Trainers Rocket Grunt (at statues): Drowzee (17), Zubat (19) Rocket Grunt (at statues): Zubat (16), Muk (17), Rattata (18) Rocket Grunt: Rattata (16), Rattata (16), Rattata (16), Rattata (16) Lance is there at the bottom of the stairs, and will heal all your Pokemon before you continue. Follow the path to the stairs down, and make sure to talk to all the Team Rocket members you defeat; some of them will know passwords, and will gladly spill the beans for you. These passwords will get you into the executive's office. Beat him and the Murkrow standing next to his desk will give you the password for the generator room on the floor above (the large door you passed after you met Lance). While you're at it, take the time to fully explore the area; Team Rocket hires really careless grunts who leave item balls scattered all over the place. All told, you can find the following items here: Dire Hit, Ice Heal, Protein, Full Heal and TM46 (Thief). Trainers Rocket Grunt: Venonat (18), Venonat (18) Rocket Grunt: Golbat (18) Rocket Grunt: Rattata (17), Zubat (17), Rattata (17) Scientist Mitch: Ditto (24) Rocket Grunt: Raticate (19) Scientist Ross: Koffing (22), Koffing (22) Rocket Grunt: Arbok (18), Gloom (18) Rocket Executive: Zubat (22), Raticate (24), Koffing (22) All is not clear yet, though. Before you can enter the generator room, two more Team Rocket tough guys attack. Lance takes on one, and you must fight the other one. Then it's on to the generator, where you must K.O. three of the Electrodes that are powering the plant. Once this is accomplished, Team Rocket will finally be banished from Mahogany Town. As a token of his gratitude, Lance will give you HM06, allowing you to teach your Pokemon the Whirlpool technique. Good thing, too, because you will need that to get into certain areas later! All that's left is to head back to the gym and defeat Pryce. Trainers Rocket Executive: Arbok (26), Gloom (26), Murkrow (26)

After you beat Pryce, a panicked Prof. Elm calls you with urgent news: Team Rocket has taken control of the Goldenrod City Radio Tower! Bring a well-balanced team of your best Pokemon because you'll need to battle your way through a horde of Rocket trainers to make it to the executive posing as the station director, who gives you the Underground Key. Trainers Rocket Grunt: Raticate (24), Raticate (24) Rocket Grunt: Arbok (26) Rocket Grunt: Rattata (21), Rattata (21), Rattata (21), Rattata (23), Rattata (23) Rocket Grunt: Zubat (26), Zubat (26) Rocket Grunt: Grimer (23), Grimer (23), Muk (25) Scientist Mark: Magnemite (27), Magnemite (27), Magnemite (27) Rocket Grunt: Weezing (26) Rocket Grunt: Koffing (23), Grimer (23), Zubat (23), Rattata (23) Scientist Rich: Porygon (30) Rocket Grunt: Zubat (22), Golbat (24), Muk (22) Rocket Executive: Koffing (30), Koffing (30), Koffing (30), Weezing (32), Koffing (30), Koffing (30) With key in hand, head over to the Underground and you will be able to open the locked door there and head downstairs. Who do you find there at this inopportune moment, but your old pal "???."

Magnemite - You rival's weakest Pokemon, Magnemite, shouldn't be a problem for a ground- type Pokemon because of it's effectiveness and Magnemite's weakness to it. It is on level 29.
Golbat - A Level 30 Golbat is flying, and your electric Pokemon should have no problem with it. Avoid it's confuse ray attack by taking it out quickly.
Haunter - Level 30... Haunter... Thats all I need to say. Haunter has always been a problem for us, but if you have been leveling up like you should, it should be a piece of cake. Literally.
Sneasel - Sneasel is on level 32, and it's your rival's newest and toughest Pokemon addition to his team, which depending on your team, could be easy or tough. It's a dark and ice Pokemon- which is original, so try to avoid using a Psychic Pokemon and try fire attacks.
AND Ferilagater, Typhlosion, or Meganium

He has added the Dark/Ice-type Sneasel to his team now, but you should still have no problem giving him the beat-down again with your team. After you defeat him, you will be presented with a series of switches to flip (guarded by Rocket Grunts, of course). Depending on the order in which they are flipped, certain doors will open and close, revealing more trainers as well as item balls (containing Full Heal and Smoke Ball). To get on with the game, however, you need to flip the switch farthest from the stairs first, followed by the next nearest one, and finally the one nearest the stairs. Three more trainers stand between you and the real director of the Radio Tower. Rescuing him will score you the Card Key that gives you access to the locked door on the third floor of that building. Before heading back there, you might want to grab the TM35 (Sleep Talk) and Max Ether here, as well as a quick dash upstairs to the department store basement, where you can find the Amulet Coin, Ultra Ball, Ether and Burn Heal. In order to get all the items out of this area, you will need to leave and re-enter several times; the boxes will shift around giving access to different areas. Trainers ???: Golbat (30), Magnemite (28), Haunter (30), Sneasel (32), Meganium/ Typhlosion/ Feraligtr (32) Rocket Grunt: Rattata (27) Rocket Grunt: Muk (23), Rattata (25), Koffing (23) Rocket Grunt: Koffing (24), Muk (24) Burglar Eddie Growlithe (26), Koffing (24) Burglar Duncan: Koffing (23), Magmar (25), Koffing (23) Rocket Grunt: Gloom (25), Gloom (25) Rocket Grunt: Raticate (24), Golbat (24) Rocket Grunt: Grimer (26), Weezing (23) Rocket Grunt: Koffing (25), Koffing (25) Now that you have the Card Key, you can head back to the tower and finish off the last of the Team Rocket trainers there. The last few battles here are not easy, and they feature some new Dark-type Pokemon, so make sure you have some strong Bug and Fighting moves on your side. When you finally drive the Team out for good, talk to the director and he will reward you with a Wing, the type depends on the version of Pokemon you are playing: Rainbow Wing in Gold or Silver Wing in Silver. These are the key items for capturing the coveted Ho-oh or Lugia, respectively. Continue to talk to the grateful employees as you leave for more rewards, including a Pink Bow and TM11 (Sunny Day). Trainers Rocket Grunt: Raticate (24), Koffing (26) Rocket Executive: Golbat (36) Rocket Grunt: Arbok (21), Arbok (21), Oddish (23), Gloom (24) Rocket Executive: Arbok (32), Murkrow (32), Vileplume (32) Rocket Executive: Houndour (33), Koffing (33), Houndoom (35)

With Team Rocket out of the way, you can finally continue your quest for the final Johto badge. The way out of Mahogany Town to the east is now open, which leads to Route 44. There is a Burnt Berry tree near the entrance to this area, an Ultra Ball near the opposite end, and trainers-a- plenty to battle. Use Surf to reach the strip of grass in the middle of this route, or else you'll miss the Max Revive and the only spot in the game to capture the elusive Lickitung! Speaking of elusive Pokemon, trade phone numbers with Fisher Wilton and he will let you know when Remoraid is swarming in the waters here. Psychic Phil: Natu (24), Kadabra (26) Pokemaniac Zach: Rhyhorn (27) Fisher Edgar: Remoraid (25), Remoraid (25) Cool Trainer Cybil: Butterfree (25), Bellossom (25) Cool Trainer Allen: Charmeleon (27) Fisher Wilton: Goldeen (23), Goldeen (23), Seaking (25) Bird Keeper Vance: Pidgeotto (25), Pidgeotto (25)

Entering the cave mouth at the end of Route 44 brings you to the Ice Path, a slippery area that will remind you of Pryce's Gym. But this area is a lot bigger, and a lot more difficult to navigate. On the up side, there will be some rare new Pokemon to capture while you're sliding around in here. The first patch of ice you encounter is fairly small and easy to get through. After a trip up and down some steps, you will come upon a much larger and trickier room full of ice. If you get stuck, make your way to the upper- right corner of the room, then go down, left, up, left, down, right, down, right, up and right. Before you head up the stairs, take a deep breath and enter the ice to your right. You need to grab the HM07 (Waterfall) over there in order to finish the game. Enter the ice from as far up as you can, then go up, left, down, left, up and right. All the sliding is not behind you yet, but first you will need to use Strength to shove some boulders around. Push the four boulders you find on the next level into the square pits. This will cause them to drop down to the next level, providing the anchors you need to navigate the ice patch down there and grab the Max Potion and Full Heal (not to mention getting deeper into this dungeon). The next small area contains the Nevermeltice, which powers up. you guessed it, Ice-type attacks. You're home free at this point, but if you're willing to brave even more sliding ice puzzles, there's Iron, PP Up, and TM44 (Rest) to be had in the remainder of this dungeon. Once you've had your fill of the cold, proceed to the welcome exit leading to Blackthorn City. Before you leave, make sure you caught a Jynx; you'll need one if you want to breed a baby Smoochum. You may notice that all Jynx are female, though, so you'll need an appropriate mate (either a Ditto or any male Psychic Pokemon should work).

Blackthorn City and the Raging Badge
Pokemon: Rhydon

This is it: The final Johto League badge is almost yours! First, take some time to explore the area. The first building you encounter contains a fellow who will trade a female Dragonair for a Rhydon. The Poke Mart in this city is bursting with great items; buy as many Ultra Balls as you can afford if you plan on capturing the Legendary Pokemon. Just west of the Mart is a house where you can make your Pokemon forget unwanted HMs that they have learned through the course of the game. This is useful if you want to use the Time Capsule to trade Pokemon to Red, Yellow or Blue who have moves that don't exist in those games. Unlearn them and trade away! The gym leader here has a thing for Dragon-type Pokemon, but since you just emerged from a cave full of Ice- types, you should have no problem teaching her a thing or two about Type advantages. Now is the time to bring out Jynx and that Lapras you caught in Union Cave. (You did catch it, right?) Getting though this gym will be a trial, not only because of the battles, but also the sliding-floor stone- shoving puzzle you need to traverse (make sure one of your Pokemon has Strength). You will need to push boulders through pits much like you did in the Ice Path to make it though this gym.

Gym Leader: Clair
For: Rising Badge
Prizes: TM 24 (Dragon Breath)

Dragonair - It's on level 37, and this Dragonair will be no problem at all if you've prepared a Pokemon with an ice attack for the occasion.
Dragonair - Level 37 again, and identical in attacks, you should use the same strategies you used with the previous Dragonair.
Kingdra - The evolution of Seaking, Kingdra is pretty tough. It's a water/dragon type though, so ice attacks will only do normal damage, as well as electric attacks. You'll have to invent your own strategies.
Dragonair - Level 37. Wow. How Original. I'm glad she successfully thought of a well bal-anced team. Use the same strategies as the previous Dragonairs.

Adding insult to injury, after you go through all that, Clair insists that you bring her the Dragon Fang before she gives you your prizes. Fortunately, it's not too hard to get; Surf over to the cave mouth behind the gym and use Whirlpool to get to the item ball in the east end of the area. When you bring it back to her, Clair lets you keep it (why did she need it, then?), and also gives you the Raging Badge. Now, all Pokemon will obey you, regardless of level, and you can use Waterfall outside of battle. Furthermore, she gives you TM24 (Dragonbreath). Trainers Cool Trainer Paul: Dratini (34), Dratini (34), Dratini (34) Cool Trainer Martha: Seadra (37) Cool Trainer Cody: Horsea (34), Seadra (36) Cool Trainer Mike: Dragonair (37) Cool Trainer Lola: Dratini (34), Dragonair (36) Although you have all eight badges Prof. Elm calls you back to New Bark Town, but you should take the time to finish the rest of the available quests before going there to continue on to the final challenge against the Elite Four. There are a few areas in Johto you haven't explored yet, the closest to Blackthorn being Mt. Mortar. Later: On Saturdays, a fellow named Santos appears on a hill that you need to drop down onto from southeast of the gym. He will give you the Spell Tag if you talk to him, which powers up Ghost-type attacks.

There are three entrances to this dungeon along Route 42, but you'll want to take the one in the middle. Make sure to have Pokemon with you that have Surf, Flash and Waterfall. Also, if you want to take advantage of the opportunity to get a new Pokemon, make sure to take only five Pokemon with you (leave one slot open in your team). This big dungeon is full of twisting tunnels and various other obstacles, as well as an abundance of wild Pokemon. In particular, this is the only place to catch Marill, but it is extremely rare unless swarming (trade phone numbers with Hiker Parry on Route 45 for news of this event). There are item balls scattered all over the place here, so take the time (as tedious as it will prove to be) to find all of them (if you want them, that is). All in all, you'll find: Ether, Guard Spec, Elixir, Rare Candy, Dragon Scale, Two Escape Ropes, Max Potion, Max Revive, Two Super Potions, Full Heal and TM40 (Defense Curl). The real treasure here comes when you battle Kiyo, the karate master from Red/ Blue/ Yellow. When you defeat him, he rewards you with Tyrogue (provided you left an open slot in your team, of course). This is the "baby" form of all the "Hitmon-" Pokemon, including the new Hitmontop. It will evolve into one of the three at level 20, based on its Attack and Defend stats: if Attack is higher, it becomes Hitmonlee; a higher Defend results in Hitmonchan; if they are equal it becomes Hitmontop. Once you get this Pokemon up to level 19, use Protein or Iron to adjust its stats so you get the "Hitmon-" you are looking for. Trainers Black Belt Kiyo: Hitmonlee (34), Hitmonchan (34)

Bring the Rainbow Wing to Ecruteak City and you will gain entry into the Tin Tower, home to the Legendary Pokemon Ho- oh. Players of Pokemon Gold will get the Rainbow Wing first (by driving Team Rocket out of the Radio Tower), so they will be able to catch Ho-oh and use it against the Elite Four. Pokemon Silver players must wait to get the Rainbow Wing until much later in the game. The Tin Tower is a veritable maze of platforms, pits and teleporters. It will take persistence to navigate the one- way paths and make it to the roof where Ho-oh awaits. The trickiest part is on the fifth floor: turning right from the upper left corner, take the first path down you come across, and head south as directly as possible (avoid detours to the right or left) and you should make it to the stairs you want in the bottom center of the level. The teleporters on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors are also tricky, but if you start with the right one it's a piece of cake: on the seventh floor, walk past the first one you pass (and grab the Max Revive in the corner), turn south and head for the one all the way at the bottom of the room. Ho-oh has tons of HP and can heal itself with Recover, so this will be a long and difficult battle. Electric, Ice, Water-type attacks are all good choices to chip away at its HP, although Rock is the strongest against this Flying/Fire hybrid. Consider using Accuracy-reducing techniques such as Flash to improve your Pokemon's chances. Putting it to sleep is a good idea, of course. You want to catch this Pokemon, not knock it out, because if it's K.O.ed, it's gone for good, so if you have a Pokemon with False Swipe you're in good shape. Once it's down to a tiny amount of HP, toss Great Balls and Ultra Balls until you catch it! The rest of the tower holds some great stuff, but it may be more trouble than it's worth to grab all the following items: Full Heal, Ultra Ball, Escape Rope, Super Potion, Rare Candy, Full Restore, Max Elixir and Nugget. Later: Players of Pokemon Silver will be able to come here and try to catch Ho-oh only after getting the Rainbow Wing in Pewter City.

Whirl Islands and Lugia
Pokemon: Lugia, Horsea, Seel, Tentacool, Tentacruel, Zubat, Golbat, Krabby
Equipped with the Whirlpool technique, you can now access the Whirl Islands along Route 41. You will also need Strength and Waterfall (and of course, Surf) to navigate the dungeons here. If you have the Silver Wing, you will also be able to summon the Legendary Pokemon Lugia here, and with persistence (and a little bit of luck), you will capture it! Players of Pokemon Silver will get the Silver Wing first (by driving Team Rocket out of the Radio Tower), so they will be able to catch Lugia and use it against the Elite Four. Pokemon Gold players must wait to get the Silver Wing until much later in the game. There are four islands here, but the one to the northeast is what you want for Lugia. In the first cave, exit via the ladder in the upper right. This will bring you to a ridge along the east end of a large cavern. Follow this ridge south and go down the ladder. Grab the item ball there (Max Revive) and use Surf to swim south to the cave mouth (not the ladder; that is too far south). This cave opens to Lugia's chamber, so save the game before you engage it in battle. Lugia has tons of HP and can heal itself with Recover, so this will be a long and difficult battle. Electric, Ice, Rock and Dark-type attacks are all good choices to chip away at its HP, and consider using Accuracy-reducing techniques such as Flash to improve your Pokemon's chances. Putting it to sleep is a good idea, of course. You want to catch this Pokemon, not knock it out, because if you K.O. it it's gone for good, so if you have a Pokemon with False Swipe you're in good shape. Once it's down to a tiny amount of HP, toss Great Balls, Heavy Balls and Ultra Balls like there's no tomorrow! If you want to explore the rest of this maze-like series of caves you can find a bunch of useful items, including: Ultra Ball, Guard Spec, Nugget, Two Full Restores, Carbos, Escape Rope, Calcium and Max Ether. This area is also the only place to catch Seel and Horsea, who can now eventually evolve into Kingdra (when Seadra is traded holding the Dragon Scale). Later: Players of Pokemon Gold will be able to come here and try to catch Lugia only after getting the Silver Wing in Pewter City.

Route 45
Rather than Flying down to New Bark, take Route 45 or you will miss the chance to catch some new Pokemon, including Gilgar (in Pokemon Gold) and Phanpy (in Pokemon Silver), which evolves into the Elephant-like Donphan seen in the first Pokemon movie. This Route is a one-way path with many downhill drops, so you will have to fly back to Blackthorn City and travel the route two or three times to clear out all the items and trainers here. In all, there is an Elixir, Max Potion, X Special and Revive, and the tree all the way in the southeast corner grows Mystery Berries. You can fish in the lake next to the tree for Dratini (if you have the Good Rod) or even Dragonair (if you have the Super Rod). Trade phone numbers with Hiker Parry and he will clue you in to the Marill swarms at Mt. Mortar. The cave mouth at the top of this route leads to the Dark Cave. While not essential to beating the game, it is a worthwhile detour. Trainers Hiker Erik: Machop (24), Machop (27), Graveler (27) Cool Trainer Ryan: Pidgeot (25), Electabuzz (27) Cool Trainer Kelly: Marill (27), Wartortle (24), Wartortle (24) Hiker Parry: Onix (29) Black Belt Kenji: Machoke (28) Hiker Timothy: Diglett (27), Dugtrio (27) Hiker Michael: Geodude (25), Graveler (25), Golem (25)

You passed an entrance to this area earlier, but without Strength, Flash and Surf you couldn't get very far. Now, you can harvest a whole bunch of items including a Potion, Hyper Potion, Full Heal, Revive and TM13 (Snore). A guy in the upper left corner of the top level will give you the Blackglasses, which power-up Dark-type attacks. As if that wasn't enough, the rare Pokemon Dunsparce can be caught here when it is swarming (trade phone numbers with Anthony on Route 33 to find out when).

Route 46
A mere fraction the size of Route 45, this route features a few more trainers, another entrance to the Dark Cave, two berry treees, and a Dire Hit item ball. Head south to Route 29, and from there find your way back to New Bark Town again. Trainers Camper Ted: Mankey (17) Picknicker Erin: Ponyta (16), Ponyta (16) Hiker Bailey: Geodude (13), Geodude (13), Geodude (13), Geodude (13), Geodude (13)

Route 26
When you finally return to you old pal Prof. Elm, he will give you a catch-without-fail Master Ball! Then, Surf your way east to reach Route 26. Bring a good team and plenty of potions, because this road is long and difficult. The trainers here are tough, and there is no Poke Center nearby. There is, however, a house about mid-way through where you can stop in for a free TM37 (Sandstorm), provided your lead Pokemon is in a good mood. Getting to the far side of this route requires a small detour through a cave, and the Waterfall technique. Make sure to grab the Moon Stone in the northwest corner of this area, as well as the Rare Candy near the end of the route. You will need Whirlpool to swim backfrom the bridge linking Routes 26 and 27 to the southeast part of this route, where you will find one more trainer and TM22 (Solar Beam). Trainer Cool Trainer Megan: Bellsprout (32), Ivysaur (32), Venusaur (32) Cool Trainer Blake: Magnemite (33), Quagsire (31), Exeggcute (31) Cool Trainer Brian: Sandslash (35) Psychic Gilbert: Starmie (30), Exeggcute (30), Girafarig (34) Bird Keeper Jose: Farfetch'd (35) Cool Trainer Reena: Starmie (31), Starmie (31), Nidoqueen (33) Fisher Scott: ??? (30), ??? (30), Seaking (34)

Route 27
Stepping off the bridge brings you to Route 27, the longest single stretch of road in the game. Hidden behind some trees near the beginning of this path is the home of the "Days of the Week" siblings you've been running into all over the place. If you missed any, their schedule can be found here. More importantly, there is a building near the middle of the route that houses a healer with an Ice Berry tree outside. After fighting trainer Beth, you can loop around to the south of her and grab a Max Elixir. Other than that, this is a straight-forward (and tough) road that ends with the gateway to the Pokemon League. Make sure your Pokemon are fully healed (and the game is saved) before moving on from here. Trainers Psychic Richard: Espeon (34) Cool Trainer Joyce: Pikachu (36), Blastoise (32) Cool Trainer Gaven: Victreebell (32), Kingler (32), Flareon (32) Cool Trainer Roger: Parasect (33), Golduck (35) Cool Trainer Beth: Rapidash (36)

This dungeon leads to the Indigo Plateau and your final challenge. With a little exploring, you can find a Full Restore, Full Heal, Max Revive and X Special. Wouldn't you know that after you fight your way past the grueling array of wild Pokemon here, your rival pops up again for another showdown? Kadabra has been added to his team, so make sure your Gengar (or other appropriate type) is along for the battle. Once you find the exit, double back and head west, dropping down the pit and right into TM26 (Earthquake). Trainers ???: Sneasel (34), Magneton (35), Golbat (36), Haunter (35), Kadabra (35), Meganium/ Typhlosion/ Feraligtr (38)

Indigo Plateau
This is it! The Elite Four and the latest Champion await your challenge. Before moving on, you can stop at the combined Poke Mart and Pokemon Center to heal your Pokemon, ake final decisions about your team, and buy as many potions as you can afford. Since you can't come back here between the next five battles (like you could in the gym battles), you will need to do your own healing. Make sure you can cure both HP and statuses; take along Full Heals, Full Restores, and so on. If you don't feel ready to challenge the elites, there is an old man here who is willing to have his Abra teleport you home for more training. but why stop when you've gotten this far? Unfortunately, there's no easy way to beat all the battles that lie ahead. These are the best Pokemon trainers around, and they represent a balanced spectrum of every kind of Pokemon. Basically, this means your team needs to be both powerful and balanced.

Elite Four Trainer: Will
Xatu (40) - Will packs a Xatu as his first Pokemon. Obviously, it's going to use psychic and ice attacks- a powerful combination. Try using a flying Pokemon move against it but be careful- Flying Pokemon are weak against Ice attacks.
Slowbro (41) - Being water and psychic, Slowbro is very powerful, yet very slow. Try electric attacks against it, but don't neglect to remember Slowbro is still strong.
Xatu (42) - This is a replica of the last Xatu. Use the same strategy as you did for the previous Xatu.
Jynx (41) - Like Xatu, Jynx is another psychic and ice Pokemon. It's defense is extremely low which means nearly any Pokemon could take it out. Try attacking it physically rather than with special attacks for its special rating is through the roof.
Exeggutor (41) - Exeggutor is a grass and psychic Pokemon. Try a Fire attack- if you're using Gold version Ho-oh should do the trick.

Elite Four Trainer: Koga
Ariados (40) - A bug Pokemon. Hopefully, you have a flying or fire attack ready to take it out. It shouldn't be a problem for you.
Venomoth (41) - Yet another bug Pokemon that will be difficult if you do not have a fire or flying attack. It will try to use powerful psychic attacks, so be ready and prepared for them.
Muk (42) - Muk is tough, and that is because it has such a high defense rating. Use your most powerful attacks, and try to avoid switching Pokemon if there are spikes on the ground thanks to Forretress.
Crobat (44) - Being the evolved form of Golbat, it has strong flying and highly annoying poision attacks. A fire attack should be able to take it out.
Forretress (43) - This Pokemon will like to annoy you with the spikes attack, which will take about 1/8 of any Pokemon's HP that you switch to, making it difficult to level up weaker Pokemon using the switching method. Try knocking it out with a fire attack.

Elite Four Trainer: Bruno
Hitmontop (42) - I guess Nintendo ran out of idea's when creating new Pokemon... Just take it out with a flying attack and quickly forget about this Pokemon.
Hitmonchan (42) - The Punching fiend. It will use various elemental punches, so there really isn't a Pokemon that isn't weak against it. Once again, a flying Pokemon comes in handy.
Hitmonlee (42) - The Kicking fiend. It uses various kicking attacks, but they aren't elemental this time around. Go ahead, use another flying type.
Machamp (46) - A Pokemon with high attack power, but low defense. A quick flying Pokemon yet again shall do the trick.
Onix (43) - Onix is simple Pokemon that shouldn't be too hard if you have a water or grass Pokemon. Even the simplest move of these types will take care of it in one hit.

Elite Four Trainer: Karen
Umbreon (42) - The dark evolution of Eevee, Umbreon shouldn't prove to be too tough if you don't use a psychic Pokemon.
Vileplume (42) - A grass type Pokemon that should be easy for (drum-roll) a flying type Pokemon
Gengar (45) - Remember Ecruteak's Gengar? This is the same thing, only much harder. Again, it has curse, which will stab itself, and attack you very much after or before every turn. Be careful and make sure you have a strong and quick Pokemon.
Murkrow (44) - A very fast, but not too strong Pokemon that looks much like Spearow. It takes advantage of it's swiftness and tries to destroy you with it's attacks. A fire, electric, or ice type move should do the trick.
Houndoom (47) - A fire type dog Pokemon of the evil type. It has many strong attacks, so make sure you have a water type Pokemon handy.

Elite Four Trainer: Lance
Gyarados (44) - A Dragon and Flying type Pokemon, which is EXTREMELY weak against electric attacks. One electric attack from an electric Pokemon will do 12x the damage it would have done if it were a regular attack.
Dragonite (47) - An extremely strong Pokemon, and it's not any more relieving to know that Lance has three of them. Use an ice atack, or Slash if you have it and pray it get's a critical hit.
Dragonite (47) - Use the same strategy you used on the previous Dragonite.
Dragonite (50) - Once again, used the same strategy you used on the previous two Dragonites.
Aerodactl (46) - A very Powerful, yet slow, Pokemon. It will use the hyper beam attack as often as it can. Try using a water, electric, or an ice attack to defeat it.
Charizard (46) - Lance's Charizard will have a hyper beam attack, just like all the other ones. Be quick, because not only is this Pokemon very powerful, it has few weaknesses.

Later: After you defeat your rival on Mt. Moon, you can return here on Mondays and Wednesdays for a rematch with him.

When you finished, Mary (a journalist) and Professor Oak come running up and talk to you. Lance takes you away and registers you in the Hall of Fame! Woohoo! Then Professor Oak rates your Pokedex, then the credits roll. Don't turn it off! The credits are fairly cute, with dancing Pokemon around the edges. When the credits finish, push START to start the game again. You will find yourself back at home. Has the adventure ended? NO!!! Of course not! Not only can you now set about catching all the Pokemon, and experiment with breeding, but there is a whole world of adventure over in Kanto - the place where the RBY games are set. If you go see Professor Elm, he will give you a ticket on the SS AQUA, which leaves from Olivine, and docks in Vermilion City in Kanto.

S.S. Aqua
Items: Metal Coat

Don't look now, but your adventure is only just beginning! Now that you have won the Johto League Championship, continue your game to take on the Kanto League and eight more badges (the ones from the original games). You will end up back home in New Bark Town, where Prof. Elm will summon you to his lab and give you the S.S. Ticket. Fly over to Olivine City and board the S.S. Aqua for your trip to Kanto. Unfortunately, the ship only sails from Olivine to Vermilion on Mondays and Fridays, so you may have to delay your departure for a while. There is a small army of trainers sailing along with you to battle, as well as a small quest: a man is looking for his lost daughter, and he needs your help. You will need to battle the sailor in the room next to yours in order to get downstairs and find the girl in the captain's room. When she is returned, her grateful father gives you the Metal Coat, which not only powers up Steel-type attacks but also allows Scyther and Onix to evolve (when they are traded holding the item). Trainers Sailor Stanley: Machop (31), Psyduck (26), Machoke (33) Hiker Noland: Sandslash (30), Golem (33) Firebreather Lyle: Koffing (28), Flareon (31), Koffing (28) Pokefan Colin: ??? (33) Twins Meg & Peg: ??? (31), ??? (31) Juggler Fritz: Mr. Mime (29), Machoke (29), Magmar (29) Sailor Jeff: Raticate (32), Raticate (32) Picknicker Debra: Seaking (33) Later: If you board the S.S. Aqua again later in the game, the assortment of trainers will be quite different (and much more challenging), but you will not need to rescue the little girl. Trainers (Olivine to Vermilion) Beauty Cassie: Vileplume (28), Butterfree (34) Black Belt Wai: Machoke (30), Machoke (32), Machoke (34) Cool Trainer Carol: Electrode (35), Starmie (35), Ninetales (35) Cool Trainer Sean: Flareon (35), Tangela (35), Tauros (35) Fisher Jonah: Shellder (25), ???, ???, Cloyster (29) Gentleman Edward: Persian (33) Psychic Rodney: Drowzee (29), Hypno (33) Sailor Garrett: Kingler (34) Super Nerd Sean: Magnemite (31), Muk (33), Magnemite (31) Trainers (Vermilion to Olivine) Bug Catcher Ken: Ariados (30), Pinsir (32) Burglar Corey: Koffing (25), Magmar (28), Koffing (25), Koffing (30) Guitarist Clyde: Electabuzz (34) Pokefan Georgia: Sentret (23), Sentret (23), Sentret (23), Sentret (23), Furret (28) Pokefan Jeremy: Meowth (28), Meowth (28), Meowth (28) Pokemaniac Ethan: Rhyhorn (31), Rhydon (31) Sailor Kenneth: Machop (28), Machop (28), Poliwrath (28), Machop (28) Schoolboy Nate: Ledian (32), Exeggutor (32) Schoolboy Ricky: Aipom (32), Ditto (32) Teacher Shirley: Jigglypuff (35)

There's not much to see or do here beyond the gym. There is a Poke Mart and Pokemon Center, of course, and if you stop into the Pokemon Fan Club (just north of the gym) you can score a free Rare Candy. If you want to sail back to Johto, you will need to wait until Sunday or Wednesday. Lt. Surge presides over the gym here, and his array of Electric Pokemon should be no problem for you to defeat after your triumph against the Elite Four, earning you the Thunder Badge, which boosts the speed of your Pokemon.

Gym Leader: Lt. Surge
For: Shock Badge
Raichu (44) - Lt. Surge's most powerful Pokemon, Raichu, likes to use strong electric attacks.
A strong ground type Pokemon should be all you need to defeat it, and if you don't have one, you're in trouble.
Magneton (40) - Lt. Surge's most annoying Pokemon, Magneton, likes to use Sonic Boom, which
no matter what advantage or disadvantage there is, will do 20 damage, which after a few
turns, adds up to a lot.
Electabuzz (46) - A strong and fast Pokemon, that, like Raichu uses strong electric attacks. It is a pure electric type Pokemon, so rock or ground with an ice move, maybe a Kabuto or Kabutops will be perfect.
Electrode (40) - A weak, but fast electric Pokemon, Electrode won't really be much of a challange for you. Use an ice or rock type
Electrode (40) - Use the same strategy as you used on the previuos Electrode to beat it.

Trainers Juggler Horton: Electrode (33), Electrode (33), Electrode (33), Electrode (33) Guitarist Vincent: Magnemite (27), Magnemite (32), Magnemite (32), Voltorb (33) Gentleman Gregory: Pikachu (37), Flaaffy (33) Later: Once you have retrieved the Expn. Card from the Power Plant, you can use the radio to wake the Sleeping Snorlax blocking the way to Diglett's Cave. The Clefairy Doll in the Fan Club belongs to a girl in Saffron City. After you restore power to the area, return it to her for a reward. After you win all eight Kanto Badges, the guy standing near the Snorlax will give you a Max Up.

This city is quite large, but rather devoid of activities. A few buildings to the east of the Route 6 entrance is the home of a guy who will read your mind and hand you TM29 (Psychic). You can pick up an Up-Grade at the huge building in the center of town (useful for evolving Porygon when it is traded), and the Focus Band in the smaller of the two gyms (the one on the left). The larger gym houses Sabrina, mistress of Psychic Pokemon.

Gym Leader: Sabrina
For: Gold Badge

Mr.Mime (46) - An easy, but annoying Pokemon, Mr.Mime will like to mimic your attacks and minimize itself during battle.
Alakazam (48) - A Very powerful, but also very weak defensive Pokemon, Alakazam uses pure psychic moves, so be careful.
Espeon (46) - Another weak Pokemon, maybe a little bit stronger, Eifi will also use psychic attacks, so be careful.

You'll need to navigate a series of teleporters to make it to her: take the upper right, upper left, lower left and lower left teleporters to get to her. Her Pokemon are tough, but you can beat them if well prepared (try catching a Dark-type Houndour on Route 7). Her prize, the Marsh Badge, increases your Pokemon's Special Attack stat. Trainers Medium Rebecca: Drowzee (35), Hypno (35) Psychic Jared: Mr. Mime (32), Exeggcute (32), Exeggcute (35) Medium Doris: Slowpoke (34), Slowbro (36) Psychic Franklin: Kadabra (37) Later: After you restore the power, come back here to the Copycat girl's house (it's not far from the Route 7 entrance to town). If you do as she asks and return her Clefairy Doll (it's in the Pokemon Fan Club in Vermilion City) she will give you a rail Pass.

Route 7
This route isn't exactly on our way, but as we mentioned before it's the first chance you will get to catch Dark Pokemon (assuming you travel through here at night, that is). Two of them appear here: the Flying Murkrow and the much rarer (and much better) Houndour. Duck in here for a Pokemon hunt, then go back to town and head for Route 8.

The local power outage means the radio tower here isn't working, so there really isn't much to do here except visit the Poke Mart. There is also a name rater/changer guy in the house on the south end of town. Later: Once the power has been restored, you can pick up the Expn. Card for your radio. It lets you tune in to the restored radio waves in Kanto.

Route 10
Heading north from Lavender brings you to the tiny Route 10, the main feature of which is the entrance to the Rock Tunnel. Trainers Pokefan Robert: Quagsire (33) Hiker Jim: Machamp (35)

You'll need Flash to see your way around this dungeon, where you can find your way to Route 9 as well as a whole pile of item balls: Elixir, Revive, PP Up, Iron and TM47 (Steel Wing). It is also the only place in the game to catch Cubone, and on the lower level, Kangaskhan.

When you emerge from the Rock Tunnel, head north to the water and Surf your way around to the south. You will find the power plant there (where you pick up some clues leading to Cerulean City) and a patch of grass (technically part of Route 10) where you can catch Electabuzz. You'll want two of them so you can breed the "baby" Pokemon Elekid. Once that is done, Surf back up and head west to Cerulean City. Trainers Picknicker Edna: Nidorina (30), Raichu (34) Camper Sid: Dugtrio (32), Poliwrath (29), Primeape (29) Camper Dean: Golduck (33), Sandslash (31) Hiker Tim: Graveler (31), Graveler (31), Graveler (31) Picknicker Heidi: Skiploom (32), Skiploom (32) Hiker Sidney: Dugtrio (34), Onix (32)

Cerulean City and the Cascade Badge
Items: Missing Part, TM07

The first thing on your agenda is to find the thief they told you about in the power plant. Check the gym: Misty isn't there, but the thief is. He'll make a break for it when you show up, but the guy outside will tell you that he went towards Route 24. Head out of town to the north and you will catch up to him. Defeat him in battle, and he will tell you where he hid the Machine Part: back in the Cerulean Gym! Go back there again and find it, then return it to the power plant. They will reward you with TM07 (Zap Cannon), a powerful but inaccurate Electric attack. Now that the power is on, you can complete some of the earlier quests, including returning the Copycat girl's Clefairy Doll, and picking up the Expn. Card in the Lavender Town Radio Tower. In addition, the train will now be back in operation, allowing you to ride between Saffron and Goldenrod at any time (no more waiting for the boat). Once that nasty business is taken care of, talk to the boy in the northwest corner of town to find out about a hidden item. Use Surf and your own Item Finder to discover the Berserk Gene. Misty still isn't in the gym though. To find her, you will need to make your way north through Routes 24 and 25. Trainers Rocket Thief: Golbat (30) Later: Once you find Misty and chase off her date, she will return to the gym and battle you. It's all Water- type here, so it should be easy except for her mighty Lapras. Bring a Grass or Flying-type to deal with Quagsire (which is resistant to Electric attacks).

Gym Leader: Misty

Golduck (42) - Has Misty finally evolved her Psyduck? It appears so. Golduck will have some strong water attacks, so use an electric or grass type to defeat it.
Quagsire (42) - Evolved from Wooper, Nuo doesn't really put up too much of a fight. Once again, a grass or electric type will save the day.
Lapras (44) - Being a little harder, and more diffucult to defeat if you have a special type Pokemon, Lapras is unfourtanetly a psychic and water type. A long battle will take place, and an electric Pokemon should win the battle.
Starmie (47) - Another psychic and water type, but it has recover, which you'll learn becomes extremely annoying. Use a grass or electric type once again to defeat it.
Trainers Swimmer Briana: Seaking (35), Seaking (35) Swimmer Parker: Horsea (32), Seadra (35), Horsea (32) Swimmer Diana: Golduck (37)

A long line of tough trainer battles stand between you and Misty. If you can beat them all, you are rewarded with a Nugget. At the end of Route 25 is Bill's House, where the old man house-sitting will ask you to bring him Pokemon to see. Of course, he won't ask for them by name, but rather in the form of a (rather simple) riddle. If you bring the right one to him, he will reward you with an evolution stone. Once you have returned to Cerulean and earned the Cascade Badge, continue south to Route 5. Trainers Schoolboy Dudley: Oddish (35) Lass Ellen: Wigglytuff (30), Granbull (34) Schoolboy Joe: Tangela (33), Vaporeon (33) Lass Laura: Gloom (28), Bellossom (33), Pidgeotto (31) Camper Lloyd: Nidoking (34) Lass Shannon: Paras (29), Paras (29), Parasect (32) Super Nerd Pat: Porygon (36) Cool Trainer Kevin: Rhyhorn (38), Charmeleon (35), Wartortle (35)

This short route links Cerulean and Saffron; you use it here as a shortcut to Route 7 and Celadon City. Also, if you drop down the slopes to the house here, the old woman will give you the Cleanse Tag. When equipped, it reduces the number of encounters with wild Pokemon.

Celadon City and the Rainbow Badge
Pokemon: Grimer, for more see the Games Corner or Poke Mart
Items: TM03, Leftovers, for more see Games Corner or Poke Mart

This large city will remind you a lot of Goldenrod; it has a huge Poke Mart department store, and a casino-style Game Corner (although here you can win different TMs as well as Porygon and Eevee). There's no underground tunnels here, but there are a few surprises. In the south end of town there's a house that hosts an eating contest. Although it seems gross, search the trash for Leftovers. This handy item will allow the Pokemon holding it to recover a small number of HP each turn in battle. Continuing past this house into the little path in the woods with your Item Finder will yield a PP Up. Finally, sneaking into the mansion in the north end of town through the back door (and at night) will lead to a scary story, and TM03 (Curse). The Games Corner is still there. Team Rocket have gone, though. Next door the prizes available are: Mr Mime $3333 TM32 $1500 Eevee $6666 TM29 $3500 Porygon $9999 TM15 $7500. Grass Pokemon abound in Erica's gym, so bring your mightiest Fire Pokemon and burn them up! Beating her not only earns the Rainbow badge, but also TM19 (Giga Drain). Trainers Twins Jo & Zoe: Victreebell (35), Vileplume (35) Picknicker Tanya: Exeggutor (37) Lass Michelle: Skiploom (32), Hoppip (33), Jumpluff (35) Beauty Julia: Paras (32), Parasect (35), Exeggcute (32) Leader Erika: Tangela (42), Bellossom (46), Jumpluff (41), Victreebell (46) Routes 16, 17 and 18 This is a long ride down a steep hill lined with trainers (and a few rare Pokemon). Turn east at the bottom of the path to get to Fuchsia City. Trainers Biker Riley: Weezing (34) Biker Joel: Magmar (32), Magmar (32) Biker Glenn: Koffing (28), Magmar (30), Weezing (32) Biker Charles: Koffing (30), Charmeleon (30), Weezing (30) Bird Keeper Bob: Noctowl (34) Bird Keeper Boris: Doduo (28), Doduo (30), Dodrio (32)

Fuchsia City and the Soul Badge
Items: TM06

The Safari Zone is closed, so there's not a whole lot to do in this town. except earn another badge! Players of the earlier games will be familiar with the invisible walls and Poison Pokemon found here, but since the ninja master Koga is now part of the Elite Four (you've already bested him by this time), his daughter Janine has taken over. The other trainers in this gym can disguise themselves to look like her, so you're probably going to have to battle them all to get to her. Fortunately, Poison is a pretty easy type to deal with; bring along your best Psychic and Fire-type Pokemon and you should have no trouble earning the Soul Badge and TM06 (Toxic). Trainers Lass Linda: Bulbasaur (30), Ivysaur (32), Venusaur (34) Picknicker Cindy: Nidoqueen (36) Camper Barry: Nidoking (36) Lass Alice: Gloom (30), Arbok (34), Gloom (30) Leader Janine: Crobat (36), Weezing (36), Weezing (36), Ariados (33), Venomoth (39)

Taking the east exit from Fuchsia City takes you to Route 15, which will ultimately lead you back to Vermilion on your way to Diglett's Cave. This is the long way around, but it is a path worth taking for several reasons. Near the beginning of this path, you will find a PP Up (although some backtracking will be required). There's a girl searching Route 14 for a Chansey. If you have one, trade it to her for her Aerodactyl. Where do you find a Chansey? Right in the patch of tall grass she is searching! They are quite rare, so you'll have to be persistent. Route 13 features a sort of maze where you can find hidden Calcium with your Item Finder. Another Calcium, as well as a Nugget, can be found using Cut and Surf on Route 12. The house in the middle of Route 11 holds the Super Rod (answer "Yes" to the fisherman's question), which will allow you to catch the best Pokemon when fishing. Besides all this, these routes also feature a bewildering array of junior trainers to battle before you take the west-bound exit to Route 11. Trainers Bird Keeper Bret: Pidgeotto (32), Fearow (32) Bird Keeper Perry: Farfetch'd (34) Bird Keeper Roy: Fearow (29), Fearow (35) Fisher Barney: Gyarados (30), Gyarados (30), Gyarados (30) Fisher Kyle: Seaking (28), Poliwhirl (31), Seaking (31) Fisher Martin: ???, ??? Fisher Stephen: Magikarp (25), Magikarp (25), ???, Tentacruel (31) Hiker Kenny: Sandslash (27), Graveler (29), Golem (31), Graveler (29) Pokefan Alex: Nidoking (29), Slowking (29), Seaking (29) Pokefan Carter: Bulbasaur (29), Charmander (29), Squirtle (29) Pokefan Joshua: Pikachu (23), Pikachu (23), Pikachu (23), Pikachu (23), Pikachu (23), Pikachu (23) Pokefan Trevor: Psyduck (33) Schoolboy Billy: Paras (27), Paras (27), Poliwhirl (27), Ditto (35) Schoolboy Johnny: Bellsprout (29), Weepinbell (31), Victreebell (33) Schoolboy Kipp: Voltorb (27), Magnemite (27), Voltorb (31), Magneton (31) Schoolboy Tommy: Xatu (32), Alakazam (34) Teacher Colette: Clefairy (36) Teacher Hillary: Aipom (32), Cubone (36)

Besides a handful of trainers and a Berry tree, there's nothing here. But it gets you where you want to go: the sleeping Snorlax blocking the entrance to Diglett's Cave. You can wake it up by tuning your radio to the Flute station (provided you picked up the Expn. Card at the Power Plant) and pressing the "A" button. It's apparently not thrilled about being roused, because it attacks you! This is the only Snorlax in the game, so be careful to catch it (not K.O. it) if you want to complete your Pokedex. If you catch this huge Pokemon, you also get to keep the Leftovers it was snacking on. Trainers Psychic Fidel: Xatu (34) Psychic Herman: Exeggcute (30), Exeggcute (30), Exeggutor (30) Youngster Jason: Sandslash (33), Crobat (33) Youngster Owen: Growlithe (35)

Diglett's Cave
Pokemon: Diglett, Dugtrio
Items: Max Revive

This short tunnel connects you to Route 2, and that's about it. It is, however, the only place to catch the elusive Diglett and its evolved form, Dugtrio.

The north end of Diglett's Cave lets you out in the middle of Route 2, where you can finally catch a Pikachu! They are very rare, however, and so low level that you will need to be careful not to K.O. them. A Pokemon with False Swipe will be valuable here, so you can breed two Pikachus to get the new "baby" Pokemon Pichu. Go into the house near the entrance to Diglett's Cave, and talk to the guy in there. He'll give you a valuable Nugget just for stopping by, Other items to find on this route include a Max Potion, Carbos, Elixir and a Dire Hit. Make your way north when you are done exploring this route to reach Pewter City. Trainers Bug Catcher Rob: Beedrill (32), Butterfree (32) Bug Catcher Doug: Ariados (34) Bug Catcher Ed: Beedrill (30), Beedrill (30), Beedrill (30)

You'll need to stop over in this cozy little town to battle for the Boulder Badge and to talk to the old man standing near the exit to Route 3. He will give you either the Silver Wing (if you are playing Pokemon Gold) or the Rainbow Wing (if playing Silver). Now you can go back and capture the other Legendary Pokemon (Lugia for Gold players or Ho-oh for Silver). Be warned that this time the Pokemon will be level 70, not level 40 as in your other encounter. A fellow in the Pokemon Center will trade his Rapidash for your Gloom, but there seems to be little point in making this trade. Brock is still the leader of the gym here, and he still uses Ground and Rock-type Pokemon that can be easily shredded by your Grass-types. Don't forget to stop by the trees in the northeast corner of town for a Mint Berry and an Ice Berry. Trainers Camper Jerry: Sandslash (37) Leader Brock: Graveler (41), Omastar (42), Rhyhorn (41), Onix (44), Kabutops (42)

Immediately upon entering the cave mouth, you are ambushed by your rival. Take heart, though, because this is your final confrontation (unless you choose to challenge him again later). He's leveled-up his Pokemon, and evolved a few of them too, but this encounter should run much like your last one (in other words, you will beat him easily). Continuing through the cave to the right brings you to the top of Mt. Moon, where you will find a souvenir shop (closed at night) and a small clearing where the Clefairy Dance takes place, but only on Monday nights. Be sure to witness the dance, since they will leave a rock behind every time. Smash it, and a Moon Stone is yours. Catch a couple of Clefairy and you will be able to breed a "baby" version, Cleffa. The cave opening on the south end of town will take you to the tunnel again, where a short drop leads to Route 4. Trainers ???: Sneasel (41), Magneton (41), Golbat (42), Gengar (43), Alakazam (43), Meganium/ Typhlosion/ Feraligtr (45)

This short road links Mt. Moon to Cerulean City. Make sure to grab the HP Up in the northeast corner before dropping down the slope into the grass; you can't climb back up this way! The fastest way to move on from here is to Fly from Cerulean to Pewter City, go south through Route 2 to get to Viridian City. Trainers Picknicker Hope: Flaaffy (34) Bird Keeper Hank: Pidgey (12), Pidgeot (34) Picknicker Sharon: Furret (31), Rapidash (33)

Viridian City
Pokemon: Spearow, Fearow, Doduo
Items: TM42

The gym leader isn't here right now, so there is little for you to do here before continuing. One neat new feature is the Trainer House in the middle of town that will allow you to battle a copy of the last person you fought via Game Link or swapped a Mystery Gift with. If you haven't used these functions, you will battle Cal instead. In any case, this is a good way to score some extra Experience for your Pokemon, but you can only do it once per day. Before you leave town, be sure to talk to the guy in the southwest corner of town (use Surf or Cut to get to him). He'll give you TM42 (Dream Eater) for your trouble. Trainers Cal: Meganium (50), Typhlosion (50), Feraligatr (50) Later: Blue will return to his gym after you track him down on Cinnabar Island and defeat Blaine. Blue is a tough customer with a very well-balanced team of Pokemon at his disposal. To counter this, you will also need a balanced team, including Fire, Electric, Water and Bug or Dark attacks. Victory here earns the last of the Kanto League badges, and the right to continue west along Route 22 towards your final challenge! Trainers Leader Blue: Pidgeot (56), Rhydon (56), Alakazam (54), Gyarados (58), Arcanine (58), Exeggutor (58)

It's only a short jog through here to where it all started: Pallet Town! There are a few more trainers here, and a Bitter Berry tree near the first patch of grass, but nothing much keeping you from barreling headlong towards the end of the game. Trainers Schoolboy Danny: Jynx (31), Electabuzz (31), Magmar (31) Cool Trainer Quinn: Ivysaur (38), Starmie (38)

Pallet Town

This humble little town is where the first Pokemon games began. You will need to return here once you have all eight Kanto Badges to visit Professor Oak, but for now the main point of interest is the house to the left of Route 1. The girl in there will groom one of your Pokemon for free if you visit between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon, making them like you more (and for some Pokemon, this is vital to getting them to evolve). Continue to the south end of town and Surf your way to Route 21. Later: Return to town after earning all eight Kanto League Badges and visit Prof. Oak. He will give you access to the final sections of the map: Route 28 and Mt. Silver!

Route 21

This watery path takes you to Cinnabar Island. Explore the patch of grass at the north end of this area and you might find the shy Mr. Mime. Trainers Fisher Arnold: Tentacruel (34) Swimmer Nikki: Seel (28), Seel (28), Seel (28), Dewgong (28) Swimmer Seth: Quagsire (29), ???, Quagsire (32)

Cinnabar Island

There's a Pokemon Center here, but what you're really looking for is Blue, the elusive leader of the Viridian City Gym. You will find him here looking out over the water in deep thought. Once you talk to him here, he will return to the gym where you can challenge him. after you find Blaine, that is. While you are here, use your Super Rod to fish for some rare new Pokemon.

This brief and empty path is a convenient way to get from Viridian City to the Pokemon League reception area. Nothing but a few wild Pokemon are between you and your final challenge now.

Route 28

Once you pass through the reception area to the west, you will come upon this route, which leads to Mt. Silver and the ultimate battle. To get there, you are going to face some tough wild Pokemon, including one your rival has been using against you for some time now: the Dark/ Ice-type Sneasel. There is a Pokemon Center on this Route, so feel free to take on some final battles to level up your Pokemon. Near the center of this area is a house where a woman will give you TM47 (Steel Wing), and if you turn right from her door you might find a Rare Candy hidden in the path in the woods. When you are ready, take the plunge into Mt. Silver.

You'll need Flash, Surf and Waterfall to explore the final region of the game. There are a few last rare Pokemon to catch here, including one that only comes out at night. Some item balls are scattered around too, including Max Elixir, Escape Rope, X Accuracy, Full Restore and Max Revive. But all of this is nothing compared to the challenge you will face when you reach the highest point in this area. Your final opponent commands the strongest team in the game, including its highest level Pokemon, a level 81 Pikachu! Beating this opponent will require a balanced team that can counter all of his types, including at least one Pokemon with a strong Fighting-type attack to take out the Snorlax while it snoozes. Even with effective type-to-type advantages, though, your team will have to be high level to stand a chance here. If possible, they should all be at least level 50, and a few of them should be level 70 or higher. With the right Pokemon choices, and a pack full of potions, you should be able to defeat him and become the ultimate Pokemon master!

Final Battle: Red
For: Bragging Rights

Pikachu - Lv. 81- A rock type Pokemon such as an expirenced Donphan should be able to take out Pikachu easily.
Espeon - Lv. 73 - A psychic evolution of Eevee that is one of the hardest Pokemon Ash will use. have something good or it's Psychic moves can easily take out any of your Pokemon quickly.
Blastiose - Lv. 77 -
Venusaur - Lv. 77 - Constantly takes advantage of being a grass type by using Solar Beam and Razor Leaf.
Charizard - Lv. 77 - An easy Pokemon. If you have a water type, he/she should be very easy to defeat.
Snorlax - Lv. 75 -Possibly Ash's hardest Pokemon. He constantly heals himself and uses very strong moves. Good luck!